Forgetting to switch on her car's hazard lights left one driver shouldering 60 per cent of the blame for a 2009 car crash, following a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling last month.
Donna Langille was heading north over the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing around midnight on Dec. 13 when she rear-ended a stationary vehicle in the centre lane.
She got out to talk to the other driver, leaving her running lights on but failing to switch on the car's four-way blinkers.
Minutes later, Hailey Marchant drove over the crest of the bridge, not noticing Langille's car "until it was too late to take evasive action," according to Justice Peter Willcock.
Marchant tried to swerve into the curb lane but collided with Langille's car, sending it spinning.
Marchant's "inexperience and inattention were partly to blame," according to the judge, who noted Marchant was distracted by the lights at the end of the bridge.
Langille appealed the original judgment from August of 2013 that left her with the lion's share of the blame.
Part of the initial verdict centred around Langille's failure to move her car - which was still drivable after the first crash - into the curb lane.
Willcock agreed the trial judge put an "inappropriate burden" on Langille. There was no shoulder on the bridge and moving the car probably wouldn't have reduced the risk of an accident as the vehicle Langille rear-ended was still in the centre lane.
Despite those factors and despite Marchant's inattention, Langille's failure to switch on the hazard lights still constituted a risk for herself and other drivers, according to Willcock, who upheld the initial ruling.
