Yukon territorial court dismissed a dangerous driving charge against a Yukon man last Friday.

Robert Perreault crashed into another vehicle on the Takhini River Bridge on the North Klondike Highway after slipping on black ice on Feb. 20 this year.

Perreault was travelling south on the Klondike Highway when he drove onto a patch of black ice, losing control of his pick-up truck in the 90-degree downhill curve coming into the bridge.

He managed to regain control to avoid a first vehicle, but his tire hit the bridge curb. That sent his pickup truck into the oncoming lane, crashing into a second vehicle.

Justice Dennis Schmidt noted both vehicles were badly damaged and had to be written off.

Arlo O’Riordan, who who was driving the second vehicle, was seriously injured, the judge said.

His partner was also hurt, but not the three-week-old child also in the vehicle.

Perreault, O’Riordan and Dawna Blackburn, who was driving the first car, were all driving under the speed limit.

Perreault was driving at about 75 to 80 km/h according to evidence presented in court –a stuck speedometer and testimony from Blackburn and her passenger.

That day, the road was free of snow and bare, but had not been sanded, the judge said.

“The other drivers on the road who gave evidence said they were driving under the speed limit in case there was black ice in spots,” he said.

The road, though, was icy, as both Blackburn and the RCMP constable who responded to the accident slipped when they got out of their cars.

“They appeared to have been caught off-guard by the actual condition of the road,” the judge said.

All three drivers had adjusted their speed to account for the road conditions, Justice Schmidt found.

Witnesses didn’t agree on whether the southbound curve leading to the bridge is sharp and steep.

They did, however. agree that despite being narrow, semi-trucks could pass the bridge, but that the drivers would have to pay attention.

“There is no reason to believe that an even slower speed by Mr. Perreault would have prevented his truck from slipping on the black ice,” the judge said.

The Crown prosecutor had a clerk from a store two kilometres north of the accident scene take the stand.

She testified Perreault came in to have a coffee as people were talking about the icy conditions.

She also testified Perreault always drove fast.

However, she didn’t see Perreault drive on the highway and she doesn’t like Perreault, to her own admission.

“To give credibility to her speculations could lead to a dangerous miscarriage of justice,” the judge said.

“There is nothing to draw the conclusion that he was driving without care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway,” the judge concluded.

Lenore Morris, an independent Yukon lawyer, was the prosecutor in this case.

The Department of Justice decided to use a non-government lawyer to do the prosecution, and to have the case heard by a visiting judge because one of the victims in the accident is the daughter of a local justice of the peace, she told the Star.

That justice of the peace’s duties include hearing and deciding on Motor Vehicles Act prosecutions.