Well, I'd like to see the entire history of the cases before jumping on the hysteria bandwagon.
If someone is jaywalking, in the middle of the block, during heavy traffic, gets hit and killed, is the driver automatically at fault? Kind of sort of since pedestrians "think" they always have the right of way, but in many cases, the fault of the accident lies with the pedestrian for putting themselves in danger and sometimes, the police lay a charge simply because "they should".
For eg: you're doing the speed limit on Steeles in Brampton. SPeed limit is 60 kph. Pedestrian steps off the curb trying to get to the bus across the street. You hit them and kill them. You might be charged with failing to yield but the "fault" of the accident lies solely and completely with the pedestrian for not taking due care and caution.
There was someone killed last year in Toronto by a dump truck turning right. They stepped off the curb while, as BB says, texting with their head down. I believe the driver was charged with failure to yield but not vehicular manslaughter because the majority of the fault lay with the pedestrian.
Now if someone was racing at 100 kph, lost control and ran up on the curb killing someone? Throw the book at them. But I doubt any of these examples were so cut and dried.
I think people take the common law "pedestrians have the right of way" too literally. I spoke to a cop about crosswalks and he said, it's in the HTA, you only have to stop at a crosswalk if it is safe to do so. In other words, you don't have to ram your car into a pole to avoid a pedestrian, or another vehicle. I brought this up because many push the button and step off the curb without waiting for traffic to notice them and come to a stop. Someone did this to me and they were behind the pole. They pushed the button when I was about 5 feet from the crosswalk and just stepped out....I locked up the brakes, swerved to the left and lay on the horn....They were mere inches away from getting squashed.....
I don't believe that anytime a pedestrian is killed by a vehicle, it is automatically the driver's fault and don't believe they should automatically be charged.
Once again, sensationistic reporting at its best. The HTA doesn't state that a person's life is worth $500 at all. But then again, if said pedestrians thought their life was worth more, they might be a little more careful.........
