The sentencing of a 20-year-old Olds man charged after a 62-year-old woman was killed in a two-vehicle crash on the QE II last October has been delayed.
The accused's sentencing hearing before Judge P. McIlhargey got underway in Didsbury provincial court on Monday.
However the hearing was unexpectedly adjourned after the judge said he was not convinced that the $2,000 fine proposed by the Crown and defence was adequate for the crime.
The accused pleaded guilty on March 21 to a charge under the Provincial Offences Procedures Act Rules of the Road of failing to proceed safely.
The accused was the driver of a 2005 Ford pickup that was eastbound on the Amerada Road when he attempted to cross the four lanes of the QEII on the afternoon of October 6, 2011, court heard.
The accused made it across the two southbound lanes, but when he attempted to cross the northbound lanes, a northbound 2010 Nissan Sentra car travelling at about 111 kilometres per hour slammed into the side of his pickup truck.
A 62-year-old female passenger in the front seat of the car died in the collision. A second woman in the car received serious injures, including a punctured lung and a shattered leg.
Although his pickup rolled following the collision, the accused was not seriously hurt.
There is a stop sign on the Amerada Road as it reaches the QE II, but no stop sign in the median between the north and southbound lanes.
Alcohol was not a factor in the crash, and road conditions were good at the time, court heard.
The Crown and defence submitted a proposed sentence of a $2,000 fine, the maximum fine allowed under the act.
However, Judge McIlhargey said a delay in sentencing was necessary because he was not convinced the “penalty proposed is fitting” in the case.
“I am not satisfied the penalty suggested adequately provides general deterrence,” he said.
Although the charge carries a maximum fine of $2,000, the act also allows for a six-month jail term and a licence prohibition.
The judge said he would like to review the accident report and hear further submissions from Crown and defence before passing sentence.
Dilan Cole Kolb, 20, will be back in court May 14 to set a date for sentencing continuation.
