WRONGFUL DEATH CLAIM COULD FOLLOW BRITISH COLUMBIA HIT AND RUN

There are two killers loose on British Columbia highways known as Impatience and Panic. When drivers follow each other along a single-lane highway, keeping a safe distance is standard protocol, just as on multiple lane highways. In fact, even more caution is required when driving at night through rural terrain or when frontal visibility is limited. When impatience to pass into an oncoming traffic lane overwhelms a driver’s good sense, he or she may rob someone of life, giving ample cause for a wrongful death lawsuit.

On a mid-September weekday around 10 p.m., a troupe of motorcyclists was headed westbound along Lougheed Highway. Near the intersection of 287th Street, an eastbound driver attempting to pass collided with the lead cyclist, killing her and injuring another motorcyclist. The errant driver then fled the scene, presumably stricken with panic by the force of an impact that littered the highway with downed motorcyclists.

RCMP have since discovered the vehicle, but the driver continues to elude police. The second cyclist injured appears to have grounds to pursue a personal injury lawsuit. Impatience is indeed deadly when it subverts good sense and places speed above respect for human life. There is nothing redeemable about a hit-and-run accident that causes the ultimate harm of loss of life.

The family of the deceased motorcyclist are likely traumatized by their intensely personal and needless loss. As the grieving family begin to process their bereavement, an experienced personal injury lawyer could help ease their way through the aftermath of such an appalling event. Knowledgeable British Columbia legal counsel could facilitate potential assessments of end-of-life expenses and quantify damages for presentation as part of a formal wrongful death claim.

Source: cbc.ca, “Motorcyclist dead, 1 injured after hit-and-run in Maple Ridge“, Sept. 15, 2017