Driver not at fault for moose collision

A B.C. Supreme Court justice has rejected a Powell River woman's claim for damages after she suffered soft-tissue injuries when the truck she was in struck a moose on Highway 16 West between Prince Rupert and Terrace nearly five years ago.

Shirley Racy alleged the truck's driver, Grace Leask, failed to take appropriate action to avoid or reduce the impact her pickup truck had with a cow and her calf during the evening of October 18, 2006.

Racy claimed the truck was about a half-mile away from the animals when they were first sighted and argued Leask should have applied the brakes more forcefully, honked the horn or moved into the oncoming lane or onto the shoulder of the road.

During the trial, held in November 2010 in Powell River, Leak testified that when the two began their trip back to Prince Rupert after a day of work at Cranberry Junction at about 6 p.m. it was light out but by the time they encountered the moose it was dark.

Leask said she was traveling about 85 to 90 kilometres per hour in a 100 km/h zone when she rounded a corner and saw the moose about three to four car lengths on the side of the road. She told Racy to "hang on" and did not slam on her brakes for fear of losing control, even though it was equipped with an antilock braking system.

Leask estimated she had slowed to about 25 to 30 km/h when the calf was struck around its neck or shoulder with the vehicle's right corner and and rear end of the mother, who had progressed into the oncoming lane, was clipped with the side view mirror.

Leask said she would have hit the calf head on if she swerved onto the road's right shoulder and was also concerned she would have flipped the truck if she took such action.

The truck suffered about $3,500 damage and Justice Kathleen Ker found the damage consistent with testimony that Leask had slowed down to about 30 km/h and did not swerve left or right.

In reaching her decision, released last week, Ker agreed with Leask's testimony that it was dark out at the time of the collision, she was driving with her headlights on, had little time to react and was not negligent in hitting the brakes harder for fear of losing control.

To have swerved, Ker reasoned, "would no doubt have resulted in much graver consequences: a head-on collision with either the mother moose or the calf."