Lorraine Explains: If your road rage causes a crash for others, you could be found liable

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If you’re somebody who vents your anger at other drivers in a dangerous or aggressive way, you might want to read this next paragraph really closely: “An insurer successfully brought a third-party liability claim against a road-rager who was found to be 50% responsible for an accident between two other vehicles as a result of his threatening actions.”

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Canadian Underwriter explains how, in 2008, one riled-up driver — we’ll call him Clown — was sitting diagonally before an intersection on a Toronto street, forcing another driver — Not My Circus — to go around him. A third driver — Not My Clowns — soon after came upon Clown driving exceedingly slowly, and went around the vehicle. Apparently, Clown took great exception to this personal slight, and subsequently caught up to and stopped Not My Clowns and began to threaten the two people in the car. They locked the doors and windows, and as the 18-year-old passenger testified, commenced freaking out. 

Not just a little threatening. Clown “took off his sweater and was wearing a ‘wife beater’ tank top. He was swearing, yelling, and punching and hitting [Not My Clowns] Buick.” With his passenger begging him to get away, Not My Clowns managed to drive around the Clown’s car, entered the intersection and attempted to make a right-hand turn to escape the assault on his Buick, as well as no doubt anticipating that anyone willing to punch out a Buick might move onto less steely prey.

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In making the turn, Not My Clowns collided with Not My Circus — the original innocent party who had shortly before noted Clown driving inconsistently. A passenger in Not My Circus’s minivan was injured, with the insurance paying out $220,000. The insurance company made the payout but then went after the driver who started the whole mess — Clown. It took until January of this year — 2023 — for this to finally play out through the Ontario Court of Appeal. The insurance company argued that were it not for the “threatening behaviour of the road rager, [Clown|, the collision between the two other vehicles would not have happened.”

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Not so fast, suggested Clown’s attorneys. By making the evasive maneuver to escape the tirade of bullshit from an angry clown, Not My Clowns broke the ‘causal link’ between Clown’s performance and the later injury. All this while Clown “remained standing at the intersection, laughing…” no doubt enjoying the ensuing crash he was so sure he wouldn’t be found responsible for causing.

Not My Circus was hit by Not My Clowns, one party having already left the bullying driver in its wake. The unfortunate driver of the Buick stumbled into this toxic nightmare and took action to also get away. Should he have been more cautious? The courts allowed that yes, he could have been. But they also upheld the lower court’s ruling that,”on the balance of probabilities, the accident would not have occurred but for [Clown’s] conduct…had [Clown] not pulled up next to the Buick, exited his vehicle, and verbally threatened [Not My Clowns], I find that [Not My Clowns] would have had a clear path.”

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Clown was assigned 50 per cent of the fault for the crash. His defence was that his actions were, “not that dire”. Oh. Given the uptick in both aggressive drivers and many more weapons in today’s world, I wonder if Clown would be quite so brave today. Beating up a Buick in your undershirt with an 18-year-old girl crying in the passenger seat isn’t the winning look you think it is. 

Innocent people snared into someone else’s ragefest deserve this verdict

Simply driving your vehicle in a lawful manner shouldn’t be your ticket to another’s unhinged breakdown. The case acknowledges that drivers must be in control of their vehicles at all times, and many things can throw a wrench at you — something falling off the truck ahead, a sudden deluge of unexpected rain, a kid chasing a soccer ball into the road. It’s why cell phones and complicated infotainment systems are such a scourge — they take a driver’s attention from the road. But sudden events are things — unexpected, uncontrolled — that a driver must be willing and able to safely deal with. They don’t happen often, but it’s still on you to control your car.

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But dangerous, out-of-control aggression from someone you looked at wrong? Or as in this case, someone you cut a berth around because they were acting erratically? The fact their actions caused a collision they weren’t involved in doesn’t absolve them of responsibility. 

The passenger in Not My Circus’s minivan really got the short end of the stick in this one. Clear of the undertow, dragged back in and suffering injuries.

If you’re taunted or threatened by an aggressive driver, try to ditch them. Let them pass you, take an off-ramp or if they’re following you, head to a police station or dial 9-1-1. Don’t get out of your car. And, once more, a dashcam is an excellent, cost-effective tool to have.