Supreme Court of Canada orders new trial for man acquitted of dangerous driving

OTTAWA – The Supreme Court of Canada has ordered a new trial for a motorist acquitted of dangerous driving charges after a crash that killed a toddler and seriously injured her father.

Moshfeghi Zadeh drove into a busy Vancouver intersection on a red light in July 2021 and collided with another vehicle, causing Zadeh’s car to flip onto the sidewalk.

A man suffered severe injuries and his 18-month-old daughter died.

Zadeh was acquitted on charges of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

The trial judge found Zadeh’s driving did not amount to a marked departure from the standard of care expected of a reasonable person in the circumstances.

The judge saw no evidence of erratic driving or impairment before Zadeh’s failure to slow and stop at the red light. She characterized his conduct as a momentary lapse of attention lasting three to five seconds.

A majority of British Columbia’s Court of Appeal dismissed the Crown’s appeal of the decision.

The Crown then took its case to the Supreme Court.

In a 5-4 judgment Friday, the top court said the trial judge, when deciding whether Zadeh was guilty of the charges, asked if his conduct was something more than a momentary lapse of attention.

“That was the wrong question,” Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin wrote on behalf of the majority.

Determining whether Zadeh’s inattention amounted to a marked departure from the expected standard of care required an objective assessment of the circumstances and the driver’s conduct, O’Bonsawin said.

That would involve looking beyond the duration of the inattention to the nature of the vehicle, its speed, the location of the attention lapse, prevailing road conditions and all other relevant factors, she said.

On the night of the crash, the traffic lights at the downtown intersection turned red about 20 seconds before Zadeh arrived, the top court noted. 

The lights above the crosswalks on each side of the intersection were also red, and pedestrians were crossing in the seconds before Zadeh’s arrival.

“These visual cues were visible from several blocks away,” O’Bonsawin wrote.

In addition, another vehicle that was travelling alongside Zadeh’s car began to slow down and came to a complete stop at the red light, she said.

“Under the proper analysis, the period of inattention is a factor, not the focus,” O’Bonsawin wrote.

“The trial judge should not have dismissed the relevance of the visual cues or considered them solely in calculating the period of inattention. That evidence was also relevant to the risk created by the inattention, and therefore, to the standard of care expected of a reasonable driver in the circumstances.”

In its appeal, the Crown asked the Supreme Court to enter convictions rather than send this matter back for a new trial, but the majority declined to do so.

O’Bonsawin said the trial judge did not make comprehensive findings about the surrounding circumstances necessary to apply the proper test in the case, meaning a new trial is needed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2026.