Five Seconds at Oak and 41st

A Saturday morning in November 2015, at the intersection of two wide arterial roads in Vancouver. The area was mixed residential and commercial, with two gas stations, a community centre, a nursing home, small shops and several bus stops. Four pedestrians were near the intersection. It was not raining but the road was damp. Traffic was light, though other cars were about, and five drivers who were near the intersection testified. The speed limit on both roads was 50 km/h. A dashboard camera in another car captured 4.9 seconds. Over the span of a single block the Accused, driving a powerful car capable of reaching 100 km/h in about four and a half seconds, moved into the curb lane, passed at least one car on the right and accelerated from 50 to 140 km/h as he entered the intersection. He struck a vehicle that was turning left. Its driver died at the scene. The trial judge found that the Accused had not been inattentive and had done nothing dangerous before that one block. Everyone agreed the driving was objectively dangerous. The only question was the guilty mind: whether a few seconds of extreme speed showed a marked departure from what a reasonable driver would do, or was a momentary error like the one in R v Beatty.