A four-year-old boy ran across a street mid-block and was struck by a TTC streetcar.
The plaintiffs sued the TTC and the streetcar operator for negligence.
Under s. 193(1) of the Highway Traffic Act, the defendants bore the onus of proving they were not negligent.
After hearing extensive expert evidence on accident reconstruction, perception-reaction times, and streetcar braking mechanics, the court concluded that the child ran into the streetcar's path too late for the operator to avoid the collision.
The defendants successfully rebutted the presumption of negligence, and the action was dismissed.
