The Truck That Crossed the Line

On a British Columbia road the Accused's pick-up truck, for no apparent reason, suddenly crossed the solid centre line into the path of an oncoming car. All three people in the car were killed. Witnesses who had been driving behind the car said the truck had been driven properly up to that moment. An expert found no mechanical failure. Alcohol and drugs were not a factor. The Accused said he was not sure what happened; he must have lost consciousness or fallen asleep and then collided with the other vehicle. He was charged with three counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and tried by a judge alone. There was no dispute that leaving his lane into oncoming traffic was, viewed objectively, dangerous. The question was whether a few seconds of inattention with catastrophic results is the crime of dangerous driving, or only negligence.