Tribunal clears Surrey driver in 2024 crash, orders ICBC record change

B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has ordered ICBC to change its records to find Surrey driver Ameen Akinola Abass-Opere zero per cent responsible for a June 2024 crash with a semi-truck and trailer.

Tribunal member Christopher C. Rivers also ordered ICBC to reimburse Abass-Opere $125 in tribunal fees within 14 days. ICBC had initially held him fully responsible for the collision while he was merging from the Scott Road/120 Street on-ramp onto King George Boulevard.

The crash occurred in slow, heavy traffic as vehicles merged in a zipper pattern. Footage from cameras on Abass-Opere’s Tesla showed the truck slowing while the Tesla was almost entirely ahead, then continuing forward and contacting the Tesla’s rear-left corner.

Rivers found ICBC’s review team had properly investigated but reached an unreasonable conclusion. He said the rules of the road and dominant-servient driver principle were relevant, but the reasonableness of both drivers’ actions also had to be considered.

The tribunal found the commercial driver should have been aware of a vehicle that had travelled alongside and ahead of the truck for an extended period, and that the merging pattern should have alerted the driver to the possibility of a vehicle entering the space ahead.