Overtaking drivers are responsible to pass safely

Unsafe lane change crash

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The Motor Vehicle Act forbids changing lanes in front of another driver in an unsafe manner

Whenever I am driving on a highway with more than one lane for my direction of travel I can expect multiple drivers to make an unsafe lane change in front of me.

That robs me of the space cushion I have established and requires me to drop back to regain it. When the roads are covered in slush in winter, that type of lane change can have significant risk for the driver behind.

Peter Link was driving to White Rock from Richmond in the Lower Mainland, one evening with two to three inches of new snow on the road. On Highway 99, between the Highway 10 and Highway 91 exits, he was passed by an SUV. The SUV moved into Link's lane after passing at such a short distance Link’s vehicles’s windshield was completely covered by snow thrown up by the SUV's wheels, making it impossible to see.

Link braked, spun out of control and collided with the cable barrier in the centre median.

The Motor Vehicle Act forbids changing lanes in front of another driver in an unsafe manner:

157 (1) Except as provided in section 158, the driver of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle

(b) must not cause or permit the vehicle to return to the right side of the highway until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle.

159 A driver of a vehicle must not drive to the left side of the roadway in overtaking and passing another vehicle unless the driver can do so in safety.

Link took legal action against the unidentified driver and ICBC for damages he suffered because of the crash.

In the ruling, the judge who heard the case wrote: “There is, in my view, a very heavy onus on the driver of an overtaking vehicle to make sure that passing can be done in safety, particularly in poor road and weather conditions. The driver of the SUV in this case did not respect the circumstances that the standard of care dictated. That driver was in clear breach of the standard of care.”

ICBC will be responsible for settling the claim.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.