A seventeen year-old girl from Cochrane is now facing charges under the Alberta Traffic Safety Act for causing an accident by making an unsafe left turn on Highway 22.

While driving southbound on the highway, she attempted to make a left turn onto Camdon Lane and was t-boned by a northbound pickup truck. Both occupants of the pickup truck were taken to Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary.

The 17 year-old driver and her twelve year-old passenger were transported to Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary with serious but non-life threatening injuries.

Though criminal and/or administrative charges do not necessarily have any direct bearing on civil litigation, in cases such as these the charges brought against the driver can be used as a clear way to establish fault for the accident. Fault for car accidents is sometimes a matter of dispute in personal injury cases, however the charges brought against her make denial of fault an extremely unlikely part of her defence in any civil suit.

This incident should also serve as a reminder to everyone on the Calgary roads that injury does not reduce liability. The at-fault driver in this incident was seriously injured herself, yet that does not diminish her responsibility for causing injury to others nor does it mitigate the amount of compensation she or her insurance company might be required to pay to the other parties involved.

If you or a family member has been injured in a similar Calgary-area car accident and would like a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer, please contact our office today.