To The Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

WHEREAS Currently under the Insurance Act, if a moving vehicle collides with a parent’s parked vehicle while the parent is buckling up his/her child, the parent is found 100% at fault.

WHEREAS Parents need the right to buckle their kids in a safe environment.

WHEREAS Reckless drivers need to be held accountable for their actions, especially in school zones.

 

We the undersigned petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

Amend Section 19.C of R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 668: FAULT DETERMINATION RULES (under Insurance Act, R.S.O 1990, c. I.8) to provide protection for parents and caregivers in parked vehicles as they buckle and unbuckle their children.

 

 

Background Story

I’m the father of 2 boys aged 2 and 9 month.

On Saturday morning May 4th, 2024, I was taking my 2 year old to soccer class at Cody Maurice Junior Public School.

I parked our car on Cleveland Street, across from the school as usual at 8:58AM. The residential street was quiet, with no cars approaching us in either direction.

We have two car seats in the back and the toddler is seated on the driver’s side.

I got out of the car.  Check the streets again, still clear, I open the driver side rear door.

Standing at the rear door, I start to unbuckle my son from his car seat. Half way through the buckle, there was suddenly a loud bang beside me.

A Nissan Versa had hit my door as it sped by, inches from hitting me.
The Nissan’s passenger side mirror was damaged and my rear driver side door sustained $3000+ of damages.

Luckily neither my son nor I were hurt. Had the Nissan approached a few seconds later while I was taking my son out of the car, it would have been a much worse situation.

The collision was so loud that it caught the attention of a neighbor who was working in his garage that morning. He came out to ensure we weren’t hurt.

The Nissan driver was apologetic, and we exchanged insurance information. With some struggle, I managed to close the rear door. My son was terrified by the loud noises the door made and cried as soon as I put him back in the car seat.

I called TD insurance to file the claim, and when the adjuster called back the following week, I was surprised he informed me that I was at fault in this collision. According to Section 19.c of R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 668: FAULT DETERMINATION RULES (under Insurance Act, R.S.O. 1990), because my door was open, I’m at fault.

Regardless of whether I was standing at the door in the process of unbuckling my son from his car seat, or that my door was opened long before the Nissan approached us. Regardless of the fact we were parked in a school zone or if there's a witness who can attest to exactly what had happened.

This whole experience has left me in shock and fearful. How are we suppose to take our kids out of the car safely?

When we just had one child, he was seated on the passenger side and this wasn’t so much of an issue. But since youngest arrived, the toddler is now seated on the driver’s side. We have been very careful about taking our kids out of the car. Of course in busy streets, we would keep the door open just slightly and wait for traffic to pass. If the traffic was super busy, we would even take the toddler out through the passenger side from the front seats (getting difficult to do as he’s getting bigger).

But this happened on a quiet residential street in a school zone!
In speaking with someone who works in the insurance industry, these types of cases happens often. Yet no one is aware. There has to be some level of protection for parents in this scenario and laws to keep reckless drivers accountable.

Please take a minute to sign the petition below and forward this post to your friends and family. Reach out to your MPPs and let them know that this is not acceptable.

If you'd like to get involved, please join our group and we can reach out to the MPPs together:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1208563880503296