Doctor guilty of dangerous driving in woman’s death
A woman who struck and killed a pedestrian in Whitehorse in August 2008 has been convicted of dangerous driving.
A woman who struck and killed a pedestrian in Whitehorse in August 2008 has been convicted of dangerous driving.
Vivian Matta, 39, a medical doctor who had recently moved to the Yukon from Egypt, was found guilty last week of driving without due care and attention on Aug. 19, 2008, when she failed to stop at a crosswalk on Second Avenue and ran into a 26-year-old Alberta woman.
Becky Shank of Edmonton was in town to be the maid of honour at a friend’s wedding, the court heard, and was out sightseeing that Tuesday.
The court heard from the driver of the vehicle that first stopped for the pedestrian.
He was heading north on Second Avenue when he saw Shank walking toward him, crossing Steele Street.
At the corner, she paused and turned, clearly waiting to cross Second toward the Klondike Rib and Salmon restaurant, the witness said.
“She stopped, made eye contact, smiled, waved,” he said, then stepped into the street.
As Shank passed in front of his vehicle, the man testified, he looked in his left side mirror and saw Matta’s blue Honda CRV approaching.
When he looked forward again, Shank was stepping past the left side of his vehicle.
Matta’s vehicle struck the woman and carried her into the intersection, before Matta stepped on the brake.
Matta, a medical doctor, told the court she immediately got out of her van and rushed to the woman to see if she could help.
The woman was bleeding from her head and still had a faint pulse when the doctor checked for vital signs, she told the court.
When an ambulance arrived some minutes later, Matta asked if she could go to Whitehorse General Hospital with the woman, but was not allowed.
The court heard that three other vehicles had all stopped to let Shank pass.
Matta said she never saw the pedestrian.
Territorial Judge John Faulkner, however, found that even without seeing the actual person in the crosswalk, Matta should have stopped based on what the other vehicles around her were doing.
There was no evidence that Matta had been drinking or was otherwise impaired.
Following a police investigation, Matta was charged with dangerous driving under the Motor Vehicles Act, a summary charge which carries a maximum sentence of three months in jail.
The prosecuting lawyer suggested Matta serve one month, while her lawyer said she shouldn’t do any time behind bars.
Faulkner is scheduled to make his sentencing decision on Thursday afternoon.
The pedestrian’s name was not released to the public at the time of the incident at the request of her family.
S. Morran
Oct 26, 2009 at 9:14 pm
This is a very sad case for everyone involved. After visiting Whitehorse twice in the last two years and observing how busy it is in the summertime, my conclusion is that perhaps the city should consider more traffic lights to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening.