In what circumstances will a driver in a servient position be liable for a collision?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Thandi v Try, 2021 BCSC 22 (CanLII):

In my opinion, when a driver in a servient position disregards his statutory duty to yield the right of way and a collision results, then to fix any blame on the dominant driver, the servient driver must establish that after the dominant driver became aware, or by the exercise of reasonable care should have become aware, of the servient driver's own disregard of the law, the dominant driver had a sufficient opportunity to avoid the accident of which a reasonably careful and skilful driver would have availed himself. In such circumstance any doubt should be resolved in favour of the dominant driver. As stated by Cartwright, J. in [Walker v. Brownlee 1952 CanLII 328 (SCC), [1952], 2 D.L.R. 450 (S.C.C.)] at 461: While the decision of every motor vehicle collision case must depend on its particular facts, I am of opinion that when A, the driver in the servient position, proceeds through an intersection in complete disregard of his statutory duty to yield the right-of-way and a collision results, if he seeks to cast any portion of the blame upon B, the driver having the right-of-way, A must establish that after B became aware, or by the exercise of reasonable care should have become aware, of A's disregard of the law B had in fact a sufficient opportunity to avoid the accident of which a reasonably careful and skilful driver would have availed himself; and I do not think that in such circumstances any doubts should be resolved in favour of A, whose unlawful conduct was fons et origo mali.

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