CASE LAW - Truax v Hryb

BC Courts Coat of ArmsHarvey Truax stopped his empty B train combination on the shoulder of Highway 1 near Sorrento, B.C. He allowed the 4 vehicles that had been following him to pass by before he started to make a left turn across the highway into a pullout. His left signal was in operation and he had 300 to 400 m. of highway visible behind him. Finding no overtaking traffic, he began to move from the shoulder into the pullout across the highway.

As Mr. Truax shifted into third gear, he was struck on the left front of his tractor by a vehicle driven by Nicholas Hryb who had overtaken from the rear. Mr. Hryb tried to establish at trial that Mr. Truax had suddenly pulled out in front of him and caused the collision.

Mr. Justice Dley found that

[32] Looking at the entirety of the evidence, I cannot accept Mr. Hryb’s evidence to be reliable. There are too many mistakes, unknowns and inconsistences.

[33] I conclude that Mr. Truax commenced his turn when it was safe to do so. If Mr. Hryb had been paying attention, it would have been obvious that there was a vehicle ahead of him in his lane of travel. As the following vehicle it was incumbent upon Mr. Hryb to drive at a speed and in a manner that would give him time to avoid a collision. He failed to do so.

[34] Mr. Hryb had at least 300 metres to see that there was a vehicle moving into the travelled portion of the highway. I infer that if Mr. Hryb was paying proper attention to the traffic in front of him, he would have been able to avoid the collision.

[35] Mr. Truax did nothing wrong. The cause of the collision rests entirely with Mr. Hryb.

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It's pretty obvious that Hyrb thought he could nip past the truck rather than be delayed a few seconds.  He may have thought that Truax would see him and stop the turn .... we won't ever know.

If, as it sounds, the tractor was in a left turn, the left mirror would have been blind to the roadway behind.  Having previously checked and seen nothing behind, Truax would have been pre-occupied with ensuring that he made the tight turn and certainly unaware that some impatient moron would be trying an illegal pass.

Hyrb sounds like a real winner here.  If you're going to try and lie to the court, or anyone for that matter, you had better get all the facts straight in your mind before you speak.  The truth is easy ... but a made up story has to be rehearsed, tested and rehearsed again until all the holes are plugged.  This guy din't even have his facts together.

So glad the Judge saw him for what he was .....

It gives me the warm fuzzies, when I see justice being done, common sense prevailing, and someone’s bullshit getting shot down.