“Clarification Re: S.199 Failing To Report”

This is in regards to an incident involving a colleague of mine.

He was driving the emergency vehicle with the warning systems of activated, driving at about 55km/h on a snow covered country road that has multiple bends. Upon coming out of a particular sharp bend, a woman was standing in the roadway and did not move when he honked the horn multiple times. He took evasive action which resulted in her being struck by the side of the vehicle, at the rear. She denied any injuries and signed the documentation detailing the lack of injury. No damage was incurred on the vehicle.

The police are now charging him with failing to report. Does Section 199 not require that an injury or damage greater than 1000.00$ be incurred for such a charge to be appropriate?

Yes, there needs to be some type of injury. If the driver has documentation supporting that the person wasn't injured (not that they simply declined medical aid) then I'd think that's a pretty good defence.

I knew that I must've learnt a thing or two here. Thanks for the reaffirmation, Stanton.

I'm usually not a betting man, but I'd bet good money that your co-worker will have his charges dropped or will win at trial. I would advise against a plea-bargain, particularly since he has documentation, signed by the victim no less, that she was NOT injured. He stopped, he checked on her, he did his due diligence - just like Stanton said. I would suggest that your co-worker go through the standard procedure: Request a trial, file for disclosure, and put the paperwork together - specifically, the information from the pylon, er, pedestrian, who said she wasn't injured. (Who in their right mind continues to stand in the middle of the road with an ambulance coming at them?!) If a First Attendance meeting is offered, have your co-worker go in and present the paperwork, and indicate that there will be a full-on trial if the charges are not withdrawn. There should be some sort of EAP, or if you don't have one, maybe your union can provide some legal assistance in the form of a paralegal or traffic lawyer, as this was definitely work-related.