CASE LAW - Tran v Edbrooke

BC Courts Coat of ArmsOn December 13, 2008 at about 11:00 pm Van Tan Tran was driving southbound on Nanaimo Street in Vancouver, B.C. At the intersection of East 29th Avenue his vehicle collided with a vehicle being driven by William Edbrooke who was travelling westbound on East 29th and had slid through the stop sign on snow covered pavement. Mr. Edbrooke attempted to use the defence of inevitable accident to avoid liability for failing to stop.

Link:

These Reasons for Judgement make for a great read,

It offers insight into the consequences of an accident, and a peek into people's situations (life, family, income...)
It's hard to imagine that a $136k of damages could come out of a fairly low speed collision between two vehicles (repair costs not included).

However after reading through the sections a sad and depressing motif is painted, and while at a first glance a $136k award can sound like a lot, I am quite certain that both parties would have been significantly happier if the incident did not occur.

Snowy conditions in Vancouver do produce a "regrettable number of collisions", therefore it is extremely important to exercise extreme care in extreme conditions.

 

Thanks for posting this one - very very very insightful.