A B.C. Supreme Court judge has upheld a decision that a man is guilty of running a yellow light in downtown Vancouver.
Barry Allan Johnson had challenged the May 3, 2023 ticket on the basis the incident occurred at Hastings and Bute streets, an intersection that does not exist.
“Mr. Johnson says that there is West Hastings Street and an East Hastings Street but not a Hastings Street,” Justice Heather MacNaughton said in her newly released May 29 decision.
The Vancouver Police Department officer who issued the ticket acknowledged at trial that the ticket should have referred to West Hastings Street.
Johnson said he was pleading not guilty as a result of what he said was an invalid location.
The constable testified he was on duty in an unmarked police car and was stopped at a red light, heading north on Bute Street., at the intersection of Bute and West Hastings streets.
While stopped, he saw Johnson driving eastbound on West Hastings Street at roughly 60 km/h. The constable said he saw the light turn yellow when Johnson was about seven or eight car lengths away from the intersection.
“He saw Mr. Johnson’s vehicle enter the intersection while the light was yellow and that the light turned red while the vehicle was in the intersection,” MacNaughton said.
Johnson testified at trial and admitted entering the intersection on a yellow light but said he tried to slow down and, by the time the light changed to yellow, it was too late for him to stop safely.
“He said he did not want to stop in the intersection, or across the crosswalk, as both would have been illegal,” MacNaughton said.
The judge said Judicial Justice Aamna Afsar, who heard the trial, determined there was enough information on the ticket to make it valid. The fact it described the intersection of Hastings and Bute Street meant the ticket specified a unique pinpoint location in Vancouver, Asfar ruled.
The Crown said it only needed to prove Johnson had not stopped, and that the two streets only intersect at one point.
MacNaughton ruled the information on the ticket was not incorrect. She noted Johnson grilled the constable about buildings at the intersection and the angles of the streets.
“Mr. Johnson knew the intersection,” she said. “There was no confusion in his mind about what he was ticketed for or where the offence occurred as a result of the officer failing to specify 'West' Hastings on the ticket.”
