From: Stephen Pitel <spitel@uwo.ca>
Sent: Tuesday 7 May 2024 12:17
To: obligations
Subject: ODG: Duty on Police re: Traffic Lights
List
members,
I m working
through a recent decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal, Emil
Anderson Maintenance Co Ltd v Taylor, 2024 BCCA 156. It is available
here: https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcca/doc/2024/2024bcca156/2024bcca156.html
A motorist
notices the traffic lights at an intersection are not operating and that some
cars, instead of stopping as if at a four-way stop (uncontrolled intersection),
are proceeding through at speed. The motorist calls the police to notify
of the problem and expresses the concern that there could be a serious
collision if action is not taken.
The police
took no meaningful action. Ninety minutes later there was a serious
collision at the intersection resulting in a fatality.
The appeal
court confirmed the lower court s decision that the police owed a duty of care
to users of the road and that they had breached it, causing the injuries.
The police were held liable.
Also, it
would seem by chance, an employee of Emil Anderson Maintenance Co. Ltd., the
highway maintenance contractor responsible for that section of highway, drove
through the intersection twice while the lights were out. The employee
took no steps regarding the outage.
The
contractor was also held to owe a duty of care which it breached. It was
also held liable. The appeal decision does not address the duty issue;
only standard and causation. The lower court also did not address duty
because the contractor admitted that it owed a duty to users of the
intersection.
There is a
fair amount to unpack in the decision. To start, though, one question I
have is whether, under English law as it now stands, the police would be under
a duty of care to road users on receiving such a notification.
Stephen
Professor Stephen G.A. Pitel
Faculty of Law, Western University
(519) 661-2111 ext 88433
President, Canadian Association for Legal Ethics/Association canadienne pour
l ethique juridique
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