Expert: Mark C. Robins - 3/26/2008

Question
Hi Mark,
My 17 year old son was recently charged with careless for backing into a parked vehicle.  Both vehicles were parked
on the street. They were facing the same direction but were
on opposite sides of the road.  Large snowbanks, narrowed road and other parked vehicles prevented my son from being able to move forward so he had to back up. He checked his mirrors and proceeded to reverse the vehicle slowly. As he was backing, the driver of the other parked vehicle opened his door and my son hit it.  The open door subsequently struck the occupant of the other vehicle, injuring his shoulder slightly. Since there was an injury, the police were called.
While the officer was sympathetic to my son's situation and his obvious remorse for the damage and injury caused, he said he had no choice but to charge him with careless driving.  I've heard of a charge called "start from stopped, or parked position - not in safety.  This charge is apparently less serious and we'd like to know if it could be an appropriate alternative to the careless charge.  While we don't deny culpability, we don't believe that this incident warrants a careless charge.  Is there somewhere that I could look up the start from stopped position - not in safety charge?  Do you think it might apply?


Many thanks,

John

Answer
You can look up Provincial Traffic Act laws on your Provinces web site.
As to the charge yes it is serious and can have a long term financial effect on insurance rates.
I highly recommend that you get a Lawyer for your son.
You can get a free referral from
www.lawyerlocate.ca