Whitehorse driver who hit pedestrian sentenced to house arrest
A Whitehorse driver who struck a pedestrian in a crosswalk last year causing fatal injuries "clearly should not drive a motor vehicle," says a Yukon judge.
He sentenced Keith Ramage, 57, to three months house arrest, after he admitted in court that he was driving inattentively in February 2014 when he failed to yield to a man who was using the Fourth Avenue crosswalk at Tags gas station.
The pedestrian, 69-year-old William Lagimodiere, later died from his injuries.
In March, Ramage pleaded guilty to failing to yield to a pedestrian and driving without due care and attention.
Judge John Faulkner said Ramage had significant medical issues and shouldn't have been driving in the first place.
"There is no evidence that Mr. Ramage slowed his vehicle, applied the brakes, or took any evasive action whatever before striking Mr. Lagimodiere," Faulkner wrote in his reasons for sentencing March 12.
The sentence was based on a submission from the Crown and defence, who jointly suggested two to three months. The judge decided the higher end was warranted.
"Since the defendant did not actually intend any harm, cases of careless driving are certainly not comparable to those where a death is caused by a murderer or even a reckless driver," Faulkner wrote.
"Nevertheless, in fixing the sentence in cases such as this, the court is entitled and, indeed, required to consider the consequences of the defendant's driving."
Evidence presented in court showed Ramage has been a reckless driver for years. Court heard how, 20 years ago, Ramage was medically suspended from driving, but later reinstated. Ten years later, he was fired from his job after a series of near misses driving at work.
And, in the month before the fatal incident, Ramage was in two separate crashes. Faulkner said he wants Ramage kept off the road for as long as legally possible.
"Mr. Ramage clearly should not drive a motor vehicle and, indeed, should not have been driving when this accident occurred," the judge wrote.
Ramage's term of three months house arrest includes an 8 p.m. curfew, followed by 18 months probation.
He is forbidden from operating a motor vehicle during that time.
