The trial of a Vancouver man charged with impaired driving causing death continued this morning with testimony from another passenger in the van.

Christopher Maxwell-Smith, 27, is facing a string of charges related to the 2010 crash near Pelly Crossing that killed co-worker Valentino Vella, 27.

Maxwell-Smith was part of a group of six who arrived that summer to erect scaffolding for a paving company working on the Pelly River bridge and surrounding road.

Around 9 p.m. on July 8, 2010, the group decided to make a trip from Pelly Crossing to Carmacks for more groceries and beer, passenger Ryan Baggott testified today.

Many members of the group had been drinking prior to the trip, but Baggott told the court he couldn't say for sure if Maxwell-Smith had been drinking.

Baggott was sitting next to Vella in the middle row of seats in the van.

The pair were talking, laughing and boisterous as the van approached a curve in the road at a construction zone, he said.

Collision reconstruction expert Sgt. Paul Thalhofer told the court Tuesday that the vehicle drifted to the right onto loose gravel.

When the driver overcorrected, the vehicle began to spin, then rolled as it entered into the ditch.

It landed back on its wheels, near kilometre 446 on the North Klondike Highway, Thalhofer said.

The officer estimated the vehicle was going at least 101 km/h at the time.

The speed limit for the construction zone is 70 km/h, the court heard.

A sign warning of the construction zone was 1.6 km from the site, Thalhofer testified, along with other signs warning drivers of "loose gravel” and to "reduce speed.”

Based on the marks on the road, the officer concluded the crash was caused by the driver's inattention and excessive speed.

Following the crash, Baggott told prosecutor Eric Marcoux he performed a quick head count and realized Vella was missing.

Unlike the others in the van, Vella had not been wearing his seatbelt at the time, he said.

Baggott went as far as calling Maxwell-Smith an "absolute hero” for keeping his cool and performing CPR on his friend until emergency officials arrived.

Vella was pronounced dead at the scene at around 10:30 p.m.

He insisted he wasn't trying to hide anything when he first told the police he was the driver — not Maxwell-Smith.

Baggott said it was a decision he made in "the heat of the moment” and because he "figured Chris had enough on his plate” after having just preformed CPR.

After the ambulance arrived, the pair told police the truth.

Baggott testified he had no concerns about Maxwell-Smith's ability to drive the van when he got behind the wheel.

The first police officer to arrive of the scene, Const. Philip Whiles, testified Tuesday he smelled liquor on Maxwell-Smith's breath when he questioned him about being the real driver.

He said he had consumed three beers, the officer testified.

The officer performed a roadside screening test, a device which gives a pass or fail reading when testing someone's blood alcohol content.

Maxwell-Smith failed, meaning his blood alcohol content was above 0.10, Whiles said. The legal limit is 0.08.

During cross-examination by Maxwell-Smith's lawyer, Gord Coffin, Whiles said he saw nothing unusual about the driver's walk nor speech when he spoke to him.

The officer said it's not unusal for drivers to speed in the Yukon. There were two other collisions weeks later within a few kilometres on Maxwell-Smith's crash, the officer added.

Days after Vella's death, the crew would return to the construction site to finish their work. Baggott testified it was to honour Vella.

The trial, being heard in front of judge Nancy Orr, continued this afternoon.