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A West Vancouver man who struck and killed a woman as she was crossing an Ambleside street in a marked crosswalk will pay a $500 fine but face no driving ban following a sentencing in North Vancouver provincial court.
Judge Patrick Doherty handed the sentence to 58-year-old Zhigiang Peng Friday after Peng pleaded guilty to a Motor Vehicle Act charge of driving without due care and attention.
In handing down the fine, Doherty said he accepted a joint submission by Crown and defence lawyers that although the collision was tragic and resulted in a death, it wasn’t caused by reckless driving but by a “momentary lapse of attention.”
The judge added that he accepted “it is difficult to fathom on an emotional level how such a sentence is at all adequate for the loss of a completely innocent person,” but that “the law in this area is woefully inadequate to address the loss the victims have suffered.”
According to the facts read out in court, Peng was driving east on Bellevue Avenue near the intersection with 13th Street in a Ford truck on the afternoon of Jan. 19, 2022, and was turning left at the intersection when he struck the 71-year-old woman in the crosswalk, between Bellevue Avenue and a parking lot for the tennis courts. Peng was travelling at a speed less than 30 kilometres per hour, but it is possible a windshield pillar in his truck or a side view mirror had obscured his view of the crosswalk at that moment, according to police who investigated.
The woman fell to the ground and hit the back of her head on the road.
Peng and others who heard the accident called 911 and the victim was rushed to hospital but never regained consciousness, said prosecutor Ariana Ward. “She suffered a catastrophic brain injury,” and died the following day with her husband and children by her side.
Doherty said victim impact statements submitted by the woman’s family make it clear “they continue to experience profound grief” over her loss.
In a victim impact statement read out by the judge, the woman’s daughter wrote that her mother was “the compass of our existence and the pillar of our family,” adding, “I’ve lost the most important person in my life.”
The collision was captured by a CCTV camera installed on the nearby Grosvenor building.
Both the Crown prosecutor and defence lawyer Jeffrey Ray said although the accident had tragic consequences, it wasn’t caused by reckless driving, but by a momentary lapse of concentration.
“It was a true accident that could have happened to anyone,” said Ward. “There is no reason to keep Mr. Peng off the road.”
Ray said his client, who built a successful telecommunications company in China before eventually moving to West Vancouver in 2007, has struggled with guilt and remorse over the accident. “If he could go back to that day, things would be different,” said Ray, adding Peng also wrote a letter of apology to the family of victim.
Peng has also donated $1,500 towards a memorial tree to be planted near the site of the accident in Ambleside.
