pbrown@mollp.com
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A feeling that sufficient steps have not been taken to punish the driver responsible is often the main reason families of pedestrians killed in collisions contact a lawyer, Toronto critical injury lawyer Patrick Brown tells the Toronto Sun.
Charges were laid in only 30 per cent of pedestrian deaths, according to the 2010 Chief Coroner’s Review of Pedestrian Deaths, with 19 per cent under the Highway Traffic Act and 11 per cent under the Criminal Code, says Brown, partner with McLeish Orlando LLP, whose advocacy helped prompt the review.
The Toronto Sun reports that 30 pedestrians have died this year in Toronto collisions. But, Brown says in the article, “it’s unlikely that any of these fatal crashes will result in a criminal charge. Instead, most will result in a traffic violation under the Highway Traffic Act.
“The primary reason families contact me isn’t so much that they are seeking financial compensation but that they feel there weren’t adequate steps taken to punish the driver responsible for the death of their loved one,” says Brown. “They think the person got away with it.”
