AUTOMOTIVES B.C. court makes ruling on alcohol-related accidents THE B.C. Court of Appeals handed down two decisions earlier this month which will send clear signals to drinking drivers and their passengers. decision upho!ding an earlier passenger was motorcycle crash. The accident occurred in 1987, shortly after 3:50 on an August Morning near Courtenay on Van- couver Island. Two men, Trent Edwin Storey, 18, and 25-year-old Leslie Edward Shaw, hopped on a motorcycle to head home from a house party. Shaw, the passenger, riding without a helmet and balancing part of a six-pack of beer on his lap, was later described by a doc- tor as having been ‘‘quite drunk.*’ Storey had also been drinking but was acquitted of impaired driving. Although friends offered to drive both men home, that offer was refused. A short time after the two set out, Storey, doing 60 km/h in a 40 km/h zone, lost control on a curve. Both men were injured, with Shaw left a paraplegic. haw sued and was awarded over $985,000 after an I1-day trial. However, this amount was cut in half as the trial judge ruled that there was ‘“‘contributory negligence’ on the part of the passenger. Evidence brought forward in- dicated that Shaw's impairment resulted in his leaning the wrong way as the motorcycle entered the curve and that, along with the ex- cess speed, caused the machine to go out of control. Get ready SPRINGTIME TUNE-UP Replace engine oil & fiitersTop up ait fluid levels. Wash & clean car. | MOST MAZDA CARS Genuine Mazda Parts & Accessories m Specialized Maz This week, a look at one court ruling that a drunken equally negligent with the driver in a Ken ; Hardie INSURANCE CORPORATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA AUTOTOPIC The trial judge commented, “‘because of the plaintiff's greater intoxication and greater indif- ference for his own safety, and because of the plaintiff’s causative contribution to the accident itself .. I find the hazardous enterprise was one on which these young men embarked jointly and to whose consequences they con- tributed equally. I find each of them 50 per cent at fault.’* In dismissing the appeal, the panel of five judges ruled that the Passenger “did not in his own in- terest take reasonable care of himself and contributed, by this want of care, to his own injury.”* Next week, a look at a court decision that prevented a drinking driver from suing his passenger for damages. for Spring Tune your Mazda! FREE 20 POINT 1 Exhaust system 1 Steering tin 14. Driveshait aed iuniversal dots 15. Front & rear suspension 16. Shock absorbers 17. Tiresitreag wear 18. Belts 19. Brakes 20. Test crive ils SAFETY INSPECTION 1 Battery cables COMPLETE OVERHAULS * ENGINES ° TRANSMISSIONS e CLUTCHES ¢ SHOCKS Friday, February 22, 1991 — North Shore News - 25 RUBBER