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October 13, 2021 - 6:30 AM
A professional B.C. truck driver with 46 driving infractions was sentenced to three years in prison after he sped through a reduced speed sign, lost his load and killed another driver near Fruitvale in 2016.
Myles Regan Parsons, 61, was rounding his rig, loaded with crushed cars, around a corner at 94 km/h after passing two posted signs to reduce speed to 70 km/h then 60 km/h, July 14, 2016.
Michael McIssac of Warfield was killed on impact. Parsons was convicted of dangerous driving causing death after a trial.
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In a decision rendered in September and published yesterday, Oct. 12, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gordon Weatherill said Parsons, from Aldergrove, had 22 speeding infractions on his record. Despite his boss describing him as a “driving-infraction-free member of his team" since April 2019, Weatherill noted that was not true — he was caught speeding in a school zone in Hudson’s Hope and failing to stop at a red light in Merritt. These were after the fatal crash.
He also had one driving without due care, one driving without consideration and two 24-hour driving prohibitions. Four of his speeding tickets were for excessive speeding. He did not have a criminal record.
The Crown sought a 3.5 to 5 year jail sentence and 10 year driving prohibition, based on a number of other cases, including the Humboldt Broncos hockey team crash that killed 16 people and seriously injured 13 more. The driver in that case, Jaskirat Sidhu, was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Weatherill said this crash should have never happened.
READ MORE: Humboldt Broncos tragedy sparks mandatory training for new truck drivers in B.C.
"This is not a case where Mr. Parsons failed to take reasonable steps to avoid an existing risk,” he wrote. "Rather, in my view, it is a case where he created the risk by driving his loaded tractor-trailer unit at an excessive speed as it entered a relatively sharp curve in the highway despite having been warned by highway signage to reduce his speed.”
In addition to the jail sentence, Parsons is suspended from driving for five years.
Read the full decision here.
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