What is the test for determining common law duties of care in motor vehicle accident cases?

In determining whether, and to what extent, parties to an accident met their common law duties of care, a court will be informed by the rules of the road. While the rules of the road provide guidelines for assessing fault in motor vehicle accident cases, they do not, standing alone, provide a complete legal framework. As noted in Salaam v. Abramovic, 2010 BCCA 212 at para. 21, "[t]his is both because the rules of the road cannot comprehensively cover all possible scenarios, and because users of the road are expected to exercise reasonable care, even when others have failed to respect their right of way".

All drivers have a general obligation to keep a proper look out and to take reasonable precautions and to respond to apparent potential hazards: Julian v. Joyce, 2016 BCSC 1417, aff’d 2017 BCCA 217. As such, it does not necessarily follow that the servient driver will be found to be legally at fault in a claim in negligence, and the plaintiff must still establish causation on a balance of probabilities.