Missing Signature on Charge Exposes Failures of Justice System
In an area of such importance as the justice system a reasonable society would make extra sure that its functioning is transparent. While that is not the case, now and then its failures become exposed.
The most recent case that has created the exposure relates to a fatal head-on collision that reportedly occurred on May 17, 2022 near Caledon, Ontario. In that collision 18-year-old Milo Yekmalian was killed and 67-year-old Tomislav Roki was charged with careless driving causing death. The charge was dropped however by the Justice of the Peace, Neil Burgess, who noted that the charge sheet had not been signed by the charging officer. This outcome turned into a slap in the face to the Yekmalian family because, according to standard procedures, a charge cannot be re-laid if more than six months have passed since the offense.
Many justice system dysfunctions like these fall undetected like autumn leaves; in the archaic system that prevents its functioning from being observed by the general public. Court proceedings remain generally undiscoverable to the general public. While it is said that members of the public can attend an ongoing trial the impracticality of that possibility is glossed over.
The only way a person can obtain detailed information about the proceedings of a trial is to buy a court transcript. Such documents can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars depending on the complexity of the trial. These costs cannot be borne by a typical person who is directly involved in a trial and equally not by any general member of the public. If dysfunctions are found in those proceedings there have been time limits applied to when a complaint can be made and so this represents another way in which these dysfunctions fall by the wayside.
Technology exists where every trial could be on video, and fed to whoever would wish to observe its proceedings, but that change still remains an unexplained impossibility. So dysfunctions, of an unknown magnitude persist, not only in the courts but in other areas of the justice system.
Body cameras on police have been possible for a long time now, yet they still remain experimental and not fully applied.
No single statement can encapsulate the complexity of this issue but there is a genuine fear by many in the justice system that transparency will be detrimental to them. Rightly so as evidence that someone has acted inappropriately or in error often leads to a dismissal or worse. This fact is mixed with an assortment of others where those guilty of multiple misconducts successfully evade detection even though there is a history of their previous guilts. The reality is that sometimes it becomes difficult to separate those multiply-guilty persons from those who made a mistake from unfortunate circumstance. And this leads to the reason why transparency is so difficult to achieve. Once a fault has been identified our society demands strong punishment and accepts minimal leeway for human error. In the present case of the police officer who failed to sign the charge sheet his or her career could be in jeopardy. And the crown’s office will have its own explanations to do, possibly with career-ending results. But we don’t know and may never know because there is minimal transparency in the justice system.
Correction of the status quo must be a two-step process. Number one, the functioning of the justice system must become much more transparent. But number two, and almost as important, our society must look in its mirror and recognize its blood-thirsty nature in demanding unreasonable vengeance where a failure has been exposed. Frustration over a failure to bring guilty persons to their rightful consequence cannot be the basis for painting everyone with the same brush. Sometimes isolated errors need to be considered and compared if an individual has demonstrated a long line of proper behaviour. A strong incentive is created to cover up an error, regardless of a person’s exemplary character, if a person perceives that they will not be treated fairly, or with a reasonable level of understanding.
Now and then, in the crumbling of professional journalism, a journalist uncovers a story like this and successfully presents it to the public in a proper context. While CTV News has its own history of failures the author of its article on this matter, Phil Tsekouras, has done something right in exposing this story. Unfortunately, with the collapse of many independent news organizations it has become easier to bury many such stories as control over what becomes public is reduced into the hands of fewer editors and news media owners.
Building Collapse After Impact Complicates Cause of Death
Readers may remember the article we posted on December 19, 2022 involving a building collapse in Boston. The building was struck by a car and we showed the photo below from Boston’s Fire Department.
In part we provided the following comment regarding interpretation of collision damage:
“The internet is full of experts who use false information to confuse, and sometime defraud the public. The realm of collision analysis is no exception. A common theme is to use false evidence to support a false claim. There are many examples where collision evidence is misinterpreted, sometimes on purpose. The classic case is one of using the existence of collision damage as an indicator of collision severity and vehicle speed.
A building may be very strong in terms of holding itself upright but it may be brittle and may not be able to withstand the vibrations of a lateral force. The evaluation must involve the examination of the collision partner, the car, to determine the magnitude of the force that was involved.“
Subsequently we have become aware of another similar incident that reportedly occurred on February 8, 2023. Video released by the Maryland Attorney General’s office showed an intersection collision in Baltimore involving a Hyundai car that was attempting to escape police. The Hyundai struck another car in an intersection and both vehicles then travelled off the road and struck a building. The façade of the building collapsed. Unfortunately a pedestrian was involved who sustained fatal injuries. Frames from the video are shown below.
The sequence of frames shown above demonstrate the complexity of injury causation, and fault.
In scenarios like this it is important to understand that our opinions about fault can be coloured by our wish to blame the fleeing driver of the Hyundai for the death of the pedestrian. This can distract from the additional fact that the building collapse was also a likely factor in cause of the pedestrian fatality. There is the added matter that buildings that are at a higher risk of being struck by traffic should be of sufficient structural soundness that they should withstand a certain level of impact force without falling down. Providing some form of roadside barrier could also improve the risk of building collapse.
In many instances dangers that exist to the general public are glossed over because official investigations seek the prosecution of a guilty party. When the revelation of additional factors could weaken the case against a guilty party police and other agencies tend to hide those additional factors. This allows dangers to continue to exist without correction.
Characteristics of Cyclist Sidewalk Riders in London Ontario in 2022
The large and obvious elephant in the cycling realm is difficult to ignore, yet ignore it we do. In Ontario cyclists ride on sidewalks of urban roadways. They have done so for years, despite provincial and municipal laws that prohibit it. Cyclists who ride on sidewalks are supposed to be dangerous to pedestrians and to themselves. At least that is the official judgment. So it would seem that officials should be enforcing the laws that prohibit this action.
Gorski Consulting has conducted an analysis of the 1030 cyclist observation made in the year 2022 that were carried out along the streets of London, Ontario, to see what some of the characteristics might be of the subgroup of riders who ride on sidewalks. The table below shows some of the results.
Of the 414 observations, 313 were male, 52 were female, 34 were children and in 15 instances the gender of the cyclist was unknown. The percentage of female versus male riders was small, about 14.2% but slightly greater than in the overall 1030 observations of all cyclists where females represented about 13.1%.
The number of children riding on sidewalks was observed to be about 8.2%. Given that officials allow children to ride on urban sidewalks this number seems rather small.
In 280 observations it was confirmed that a cyclist was not wearing a helmet. Thus the percentage of riders not wearing a helmet on sidewalks was about 67.6%. This percentage appeared to be higher than the percentage of non use amongst observed cyclists which was previously determined in a study of the first six months of 2022.
For example, pervious analysis was reported on this Gorski Consulting website for the first six months of 2022 wherein 501cyclist observations were made. In 26 instances the gender of cyclist could not be determined. Looking at helmet use, 248 of the 417 males were not wearing a helmet. This amounts to 59.5 % non-usage. There were 58 observations of female cyclists and of those 29 were observed not to be wearing a helmet, or 50.0 % non-usage.
The following photos were selected to provide a general indication of the types of riders that were observed riding on sidewalks of London roads in 2022.
Discussion
If riding a bicycle on a city sidewalk is dangerous, as indicated by provincial and municipal officials, then the observations obtained by Gorski Consulting in 2022 indicate that large numbers of cyclists are engaging in this “dangerous” activity. Our experience of reconstructing cyclist collisions over the past 40 years indicates that the vast majority of severe injuries and deaths of cyclists did not occur when cyclists were riding on sidewalks. Rather, those serious collisions occurred when cyclists were riding in or crossing an urban roadway. Where the truth lies is difficult to determine as neither the province or municipalities have allowed an independent entity to examine the details of the cyclist collisions on which they base their policies. In fact even basic frequencies of cyclist collisions are not being made publicly available.
School Bus Visibility Obstruction Could Kill You
In July of 2007 I posted an article on this (Gorski Consulting) website entitled “Roof Pillars Can Be A Visibility Obstruction”. The point was to illustrate that a driver’s view could be obstructed at an intersection by a roof pillar and this could lead to a collision. This conclusion was based on some testing that was performed in a 1999 Chevrolet Lumina passenger car. It demonstrated that at highway speed, a zone of about 5 car lengths along the crossroad could be invisible to the driver because of the blockage posed by a roof pillar.
While this result is important the visibility obstruction that exists in other vehicles such as large trucks and buses is even greater. This fact is rarely discussed. Collisions occur with other vehicles from this factor. But more importantly collisions occur with more vulnerable victims such as pedestrians and cyclists because no one has made this point known.
The following example will provide a detailed focus on the problem.
School Bus Versus Pedestrian Collision
To illustrate the circumstances by which a pedestrian could be struck by a school bus the following photo of a collision site is shown followed by examples of the visibility available in a school bus and then how an impact might occur as a result of the limited visibility.
The photo below shows an intersection of two roadways where the driver of a school bus attempted to make a left turn along the general line shown in the measurement of the school bus travel path of about 25 metres.
Measurements of a similar school bus were taken to document the extent to which the bus driver’s vision would be blocked by the left exterior mirror and the left roof pillar. The photo below shows an exterior view of a similar school bus. The left roof pillar and exterior mirror can be seen.
As shown from the interior of the bus below the width of the area of obstruction by the mirror and roof pillar was about 23 centimetres.
Another measurement was taken to determine the bus driver’s eyes with respect to the obstructing mirror and roof pillar.
Measurements indicate that a school bus driver’s eyes would be located about 2.4 metres to the rear of its front bumper, about 2.4 metres above the ground, and about 0.65 metres to the right of the left interior wall of a bus. These values will vary slightly dependent on the adjustment of the driver’s seat which changes for each driver’s preference.
Measurements like these allowed for the creation of a scale diagram, shown below, which determined the area of obstructed sight produced by the mirror and roof pillar. With the school bus starting its motion at the bottom of this image we examined the view obstruction after the bus advanced 7.5 metres and 22 metres. Measurements of the site indicated that the travel paths of the pedestrian and school bus were initially about 7.5 metres apart. As both units advanced forward there was a continual zone of about 3.43 metres within which the pedestrian was not visible to the bus driver.
However, as the bus began its turn into an angle of about 30 degrees the bus driver’s eyes began to get closer to the pedestrian and, combined with the change in the bus angle, this caused the zone of obstruction to diminish to about 1.1 metres. This would be a critical moment. If the bus driver was looking in the direction where the pedestrian emerged from the obstruction he might be able to apply his brakes or steer away to avoid striking the pedestrian. But such success cannot be guaranteed. The driver’s attention could to directed toward other areas of the exterior environment at this precise instance. Even through he might revert his attention quickly back to where the pedestrian is walking a delayed reaction could result in a failure to avoid a collision.
A further appreciation of the collision conditions can be obtained by taking a replica school bus to the actual collision site to explore the experiments that were conducted in the scale diagram analysis.
The photos below show a reenactment of the collision scenario where we see progressive motions of the school bus taken from the driver’s seating position as the school bus approaches its left turn.
As the school bus approaches the intersection the driver would steer the bus into the left turn lane. Unfortunately in this re-enactment this motion was not possible and the motion being shown is with the bus remaining in the through lane. Never-the-less the visibility scenario is similar to the actual event. The orange circle in the image shows the approximate location of the pedestrian before she began to walk southbound across the road.
In the next images we see the bus progressing forward slowly as the driver is looking into the opposing lanes of traffic to determine when a reasonable gap may develop that would allow the bus driver to complete his left turn. This attention conflict is common in driving environments where a driver may need to be aware of more than one possible conflict in different areas of the exterior environment. In these images we also include the orange circle identifying the position of the pedestrian who is intending to cross the road.
As shown in the photo below, as the school bus advances the view of the position of the pedestrian becomes obscured by the exterior mirror and the roof pillar of the bus. If the pedestrian began to move forward onto the road at the time shown in the photo below the bus driver would not be able to see that this motion of the pedestrian had begun.
In the photo below it can be seen that, given the specific conditions of a slow forward motion of the school bus, the bus driver would not be able to see the motion of the pedestrian because that pedestrian’s motion would be blocked by the exterior mirror, roof pillar, or both.
So long as the school bus continued forward at a similar speed as the pedestrian then the pedestrian would remain hidden behind the mirror/pillar of the bus. At some point the bus would begin its left turn and this would expose the pedestrian into the bus driver’s line of sight. If the bus driver was not looking in the area where the pedestrian became visible he might not stop in time and the pedestrian could be struck.
School buses are not the only large vehicles that contain zones where it is difficult for the driver to detect the presence of a pedestrian or cyclist. The hood edge of many large vehicles is so high that it could hide the presence of a small child that is near the vehicle’s front bumper. In other instances the drivers of heavy trucks making right turns cannot see the progress of pedestrians or cyclists along the right side of the truck and/or its trailer.
Not only is it important for drivers of heavy vehicles to know where these zones are, but it is equally important that pedestrians and cyclists be aware of where these zones exist and in what circumstances they may not be seen by the driver of a heavy vehicle.
Bus Crash in Laval Points to Effects of Hysteria
Two children were killed and others injured when a transit bus veered into a daycare centre in Laval, Quebec on Wednesday morning, February 8, 2023. News media reported on that very day that the bus driver had been charged with first degree murder. It was reported that neighbours at the site had to subdue the bus driver who “removed all his clothing and started screaming”.
In an article written by Morgan Lowrie of The Canadian Press, a neighbour, Hamdi Benchaabane, gave an account of what he saw:
“Hamdi Benchaabane, who lives next door to the daycare, quickly knew something was wrong. He’s used to watching buses slowly navigate the roundabout at the end of his dead-end street to pull up at the bus stop in front of his house. This one instead made a sharp turn into the daycare’s driveway and headed straight for the building at a speed he estimates was 30 or 40 kilometres an hour.“
With children and parents also screaming the magnitude of the chaos and emotion can be difficult to imagine.
There have been numerous incidents in recent years of deliberate actions by deranged persons who use all sorts of weapons to kill innocent persons. Most commonly these actions involved guns. But the prevalence of using motor vehicles as a weapon seems to have become more common.
At the same time new motor vehicles have become far more complex in their design. Motor vehicles are now “moving computers” with numerous sensors and modules that control almost all functions. It has come to the point that only the engineers who design these complex networks really know how they operate and where they might fail. While police have access to vehicular modules and some data is available to examine, the more complex issues still remain trade secrets in the hands of the manufacturers’ engineers. In this light we fail to acknowledge that the failures of such advanced systems are not easily detected.
How quickly it has been forgotten that a few years ago General Motors was involved in the “ignition switch” defect that caused vehicles to shut down unexpectedly and the vehicle safety systems such as air bags failed to function. At last report General Motors admitted that hundreds of persons died from this direct cause, while the actual number remains unreported. While these tragedies were occurring, from year to year, no one clued into the possibility that there was a defect in an ignition switch. It was only an independent technician, separate from the sophisticates of national transportation agencies, police or engineers, who detected that a spring within the switch was too small. This led to the GM engineer who was the culprit who failed to inform anyone that he knew the existence of the problem. These are the kinds of things that can happen, and do happen, behind the shadows of public knowledge.
In this environment of deliberate murders and vehicle complexities, another factor has emerged with the advent of the internet and the misinformation that easily sends most persons into a state of hysteria without their recognition that they are being manipulated.
Misinformation and hysteria are not new. In the late 1600s it was what took dozens of persons to their executions in the witch hunts of Salem Massachusetts. It is what Hitler used to turn the German people to accepting that Jews were evil and should be destroyed. It is what McCarthy used in the 1950s to chase suspected communists in the U.S. destroying many lives and reputations. More recently it is what was used by Donald Trump to suggest to many unhinged individuals that they needed to storm Washington’s Capitol building because their freedom was being taken away. These matters demonstrate that clever use of misinformation at times of emotional upheaval work very well with the general populace in creating the hysteria that is sometimes purposely intended.
With respect to the Laval bus crash there are facts that suggest it could have been purposely intended by a purposeful bus driver. However there are also facts that could suggest other explanations such as a defective bus that became uncontrollable. Or it could be that the bus driver became mentally or physically dysfunctional, or both. Very often the true facts cannot be known until sufficient, objective evidence is analyzed in an unbiased manner.
What is striking however is the hysteria that existed shortly after the crash and the hysteria that was perpetuated in the news media that reported the comments of various witnesses without clarifying that one should be careful in drawing conclusions just because someone said something. On the very day of the collision one news report indicated that the bus driver had already been charged with first degree murder. How many of the objective facts could have been properly analysed in less than 24 hours to believe that such a charge was based on refutable facts? In many instances hardware needs to be brought in to connect to vehicular modules such as engine control modules and these need to be examined carefully by qualified experts before conclusions are drawn. In many instances the actual documentation of the physical evidence at the site can take many hours. I strongly suspect that these actions were not properly completed before the announcement came, on the very same day of the collision, that the bus driver was charged with first degree murder.
Obviously we should wait till all the facts are in. But the reality is that those facts never do come in. The important facts needed for the populace to gain a clear understanding of what occurred are, essentially, never revealed. What remains is hysteria, built on unsubstantiated opinions and conclusions, that is sometimes never quelled.
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