Dilbag &
Bakhshish Badh
 “It’s
Friday night you’re just leaving a party, when you stop
at a red traffic light and you see a white Acura Integra in
the lane next to you revving it’s engine. You wonder
if your car is faster. Then the light turns green.
Ready Set Go!!
My name is Priya K. Badh
and today I am going to be talking about street racing, the
actions, the consequences, and how to prevent street racing.
Street Racing is also known as drag racing or street road
racing. People often race because they want to be cool, but
think about it, as soon as you get in a car and go over the
legal speed limit you are using the car as a weapon, this
is also called criminal negligence. Having a car and a driver’s
license is a privilege, not a right, if you use them the wrong
way, your privilege can be easily taken away. It is not an
uncommon sight, 2 cars lined up at a red light, as soon as
the light turns green boom!!! They’re both gone. Street
racing is not new; it’s been going on ever since the
model T Ford.
On July 12, 2008 this summer,
my aunt Rupi was driving home from her engagement party with
my grandparents and my other aunt. The road was empty and
she was driving within the legal speed limit, when she looked
in her rear view mirror, she saw 2 cars coming up really fast
behind her. She did not have time to warn anyone in the car
that they were going to be hit. Next thing she knew, her car
was wrapped around a power pole, my grandparents were killed
instantly and my aunts were seriously injured. Rupi says that
the two cars were street racing.
Some consequences in Canada according to Bill
C-19 are if you injure someone in another car while street
racing you may get 14 years in prison instead of 10, causing
death while street racing equals lifetime imprisonment instead
of 14. In Ontario if you are charged with such infraction
your car can be impounded for a week and your license can
be suspended for the same amount of time. Personally I think
this should happen all over Canada, not just one place, not
just 2, but all.
Racing is not a bad thing, it is actually really
exciting, but it is only exciting on the track where all the
people there have training, discipline and skill, people who
know what they are doing. These people who race on the streets
have NO experience, NO talent, and NO discipline. Most young
adults just want to go show off their car in front of everyone
so they can be popular or cool, is it cool if you kill someone
on the street? Is it cool if you spend most of your life in
jail? Most of you are probably thinking the exact same thing
as me; no it is not cool to go to court and jail. If you want
to go show off your car go to a controlled place like the
Mission speedway. Speed race there, where there are no innocent
people that could be hurt. Don’t let street racing hurt
someone in your life, like it did to me”. My 11-year-old
niece Priya K. Badh, for her annual speech fest at her elementary
school wrote this speech. She was one of two overall winners
and successfully went on to the regionals.
My name is Rupi Kaur Badh, the youngest of four,
daughter of late Dilbag Singh Badh 62 and late Bakhshish Kaur
Badh 61. My parents were killed instantly when struck by another
vehicle in Surrey, BC on July 12, 2008. The actions of these
people were in gross negligence and callous. There were a
number of mitigating factors involved in this hit including
but not limited to, excessive speed and hit and run, gross
negligence, operating a vehicle without due diligence, perhaps
substance use; all encompassed under the umbrella of “vehicular
homicide”. This is my story; it was my engagement party
on July 11, 2008. After an evening of celebration, my parents,
sister and I got into our car and were heading home (which
is approximately a 10-15 mins drive). I remember that night
clearly, I looked back to see my parents getting into the
car. As we exited onto the street, it was eerily quiet. It
was a beautiful warm evening, dry and unusually calm on this
stretch of this particular street.
As I was heading home in the right lane, I looked
in my rear view mirror and noticed two cars side by side driving
very fast. I remember two sets of headlights and I was thinking
to myself they’re coming pretty fast. They caught up
to me in no time; I was just so surprised of how fast they
were going. I was about to tell my family to brace but there
wasn’t an opportunity. I remember the horrifying hit
from behind; I could not believe he actually hit me! What
competent person with at least some brain cells does not slow
down when there’s clearly a vehicle in front of them?
He must have been drunk as well, that’s the only thing
I can think of. I knew exactly what had happened. We slammed
into a power pole and I knew at that point we had finally
come to a stop.
It was so quiet, I was in complete shock. I
looked to my left out the broken window and saw my mom lying
on the pavement. At this point I completely freaked out and
started panicking. My seat was pinned against the steering
wheel and I was stuck, I couldn’t get out. The power
pole hit on the left side of the car, my seat shifted to face
the passenger seat (where my sister was seated). I kicked
my shoes off, un-did my seat belt and squeezed myself out
of the window. My sari (Indian garment) fell apart; I didn’t
care, I ran towards my mom. She was lying in her pool of blood;
I remember her taking shallow breathes and I told her to keep
on breathing. I couldn’t believe my mom was ejected
from the vehicle, the impact was that hard. I then ran to
my dad who was seated in the back, his turban knocked off,
his eyes slightly opened, his leg kicked out towards the right.
The fruit basket (which is traditionally given as gifts to
the bride-groom’s family at the engagement) was completely
crushed and fruits were everywhere. The smell of pineapple
was so strong that even today, I resent the fragrance of it.
I knew my daddy was gone; I took his pulse and could not find
one. My dad slammed into the power pole; we now know that
daddy died as his chest was instantly crushed from the force
of the impact. I then ran to the front passenger seat, where
my sister sat. She was unconscious, slouched over to her left,
bleeding from her nose and ear. I opened the door and tried
to wake her, I asked for her help. I told her I couldn’t
do this alone; both mom and dad needed our help. She was so
out of it, I heard her moaning and knew right away she could
not help me.
What would you do if three members of your family
were not moving, unconscious or dead?? As a Registered Nurse
I knew this was a bad scene but I didn’t want to accept
that my parents did not have a chance. I demanded help from
people that had stopped, but this one individual continued
to push me away from my loved ones. I don’t understand
why no one helped me? What is this world coming to? I was
demanding to know who hit me but no one answered. In a complete
hysterical state of mind, I used a stranger’s cellular
and called home for my brother to come to the scene for help.
My sister-in-law answered but she could not understand what
I was saying or who I was. She continued to ask, “who
is this”, this further contributed to my frustration.
I hung up and called my brother-in-law who was also with my
fiancé who left the engagement venue at approximately
the same time that we had but in the opposite direction. The
same thing happened again, he could not understand what I
was saying or who I was.
Finally I saw my brother-in-law’s truck
pull up but behind the yellow tape, they ran towards me. I
felt that finally I had some help, they would help me with
mum and dad; instead they themselves went into complete shock.
My brother came immediately after and the same thing happened
to him. I just wanted to try CPR on my dad but I couldn’t
pull him out of the car. The paramedics came and I yelled
at them to work on my dad and the paramedic told my fiancé
to keep me away. They checked his pulse and put a white cloth
on him. I cannot even begin to express what I felt when I
saw that. As a paramedic was assessing me, I saw the paramedics
doing chest compressions on my mom. I had a slight glimmer
of hope, only to realize that they worked on her for 2 seconds!!!!
Two seconds, that’s it; a stranger told me that my mom
didn’t make it. I heard this from a stranger??? Are
you kidding me? A complete stranger told me that my mom didn’t
make it. At this point I saw the white Acura over 100 meters
away on its roof; I didn’t know where the black camaro
was; these were the two vehicles which were driving erratically
and in excessive speed, they caused the crash, they killed
my parents!
My sister was rushed to Royal Columbia Hospital;
I was taken to Surrey Memorial Hospital. I remember lying
on the stretcher and I heard my eldest sister screaming outside
of emergency. I was so confused and in denial. I was released
around 0630-0700 in the morning; the collision had taken place
at 1.30am. I had to wear home, the hospital gown; I was in
so much pain. My body tightened up so much that every movement
was torture for me. Coming home that morning was very unreal;
my extended family were all there. Apparently once everyone
found out of the collision, they gathered at our home and
stayed there until I came home; waiting for news. No one knew
what was going on, what happened or why. I came home and had
to re-count all of the details, as I was they only one that
knew what had occurred.
The following two weeks were extremely frustrating;
we had a constant flow of mourners coming to our home to pay
their respects. Literally, hundreds and hundreds of people.
My parents immigrated to Canada and had established themselves
in Surrey since the early 1970’s. My parents and family
are well respected and known in our communities, and thus
there was no doubt of the out-pour of respect and shock, nevertheless
it was still very overwhelming. To make matters worse I not
only had to deal with my shitzu dog, Dash, who was very close
to my parents (who was acting out and lashing out at everyone),
but I also went to the hospital everyday to spend time with
my sister and help her in her recovery. During this time,
she was unaware of our parents passing because the doctors
did not allow us to tell her due to her fragile condition.
She continued asking everyone that came to the hospital about
mom and dad, we all had to lie and tell her they were at another
hospital, and were unable to come as they were injured. That
was very difficult, because with her I had to be extra strong,
put on a brave face, but as I soon as I would get home, I
would fall-apart and grieve for my parents. Finally on July
24, 2008 when she was moved out of the intensive care unit,
we were allowed to tell her. At the time, my siblings, her
husband, some family members and myself told her. She didn’t
handle the news well and as a result a respiratory therapist
(she had problems breathing and went into shock) was immediately
called to restore her breathing.
My life changed that night; I lost my parents
suddenly and violently in seconds and for what? Because idiots
were street racing? Because they were completely drunk? Because
they failed to help me? Because of gross negligence? Because
of a complete dismissal to respect our streets which are used
by all? Because our government and policy-makers neglect to
recognize these types of crimes? Because the laws that we
currently have that deal with the element of street racing
or drinking and driving are a joke and a complete insult to
victims? There is NOTHING in our judicial system that deals
directly with vehicular homicide; because no one in our political
or judicial system has had the courage to stand up against
these types of crimes and actually utilize the current application
to their fullest. The laws we have in-place are re-active;
how is that effectively making change?
In our case, it is still under investigation
and no one has been held or taken accountability. Six months
after the fact; and while we struggle each and every day,
those accountable are going about their lives as if nothing
happened? Where is the justice in this? We are still in a
state of limb and very upset. The Registered Owner of the
Acura that was left on its roof at the scene of the crash,
came forth to the RCMP 10 days after the collision with a
lawyer and refused to cooperate, hiding behind their rights
and case law. This specific case law protects the Registered
Owner from cooperating, so that they don’t self-incriminate
themselves.
Case law (also known as decisional law or judicial
precedent) is the general term for the principles and rules
of laws set forth in judicial opinions from courts of law.
In the common law tradition, case law interprets laws, via
precedents, based on how prior cases have been decided. Case
law governs the impact court decisions have on future cases.
Unlike most civil law systems, common law systems follow the
doctrine of stare decisis in which lower courts usually make
decisions consistent with previous decisions of higher courts.
Generally speaking there is no direct oversight
that appellate courts have over a court of record. If a lower
court judge acts against precedent and the case is not appealed,
the lower court decision will stand. This may occur more frequently
than has been documented as an appeal is usually quite expensive
to prepare. A court may rule against a precedent that is outdated
— that is, the court believes that developments or trends
in legal reasoning render the precedent inapplicable. In doing
so, the court may wish to help the law evolve by ruling against
precedent and thereby indirectly inducing a losing party to
appeal. If the court successfully induces the appeal, the
appellate court will have an opportunity to review the lower
court's decision and may adopt the lower court's reasoning
and overturn previous case law.
I don’t understand how this is possible;
it’s pretty clear to me what happened so why does it
seem that the accused has more rights then the victims? Is
there something that is missing? It’s about time the
Registered Owner’s take accountability for what their
car was involved in, and not obstruct justice, as this type
of behavior would not be tolerated in any other type of crime.
Where there is a question of public safety and the vehicle
was NOT reported as stolen, case law should not out-weigh
the lack of cooperation in an investigation, which is being
dealt with by the Major Crimes Unit of the RCMP. When a Registered
Owner insures their vehicle, they are advised of their responsibility
of being in operation of that vehicle and the consequences
if another drives their vehicle. The Registered Owner is well
aware of this, then how does that absolve them of hiding behind
case law and not taking accountability for their legal responsibility?
During the federal elections, we had a number
of verbal promises made by candidates to help with changing
the legislation to include amending the Criminal Code to include
vehicular homicide, which would carry with it a mandatory
sentence for negligence causing bodily harm or death. Several
months after the elections, we are yet to hear from any of
these Members of Parliament to carry out their verbal promises
and commitments. Every MP in Surrey failed to assist our family,
where sadly, my sister was left with no other choice except
to go outside of our city to seek support. She was forced
to go to Abbotsford and solicit the assistance of MP, Ed Fast
who has partnered with us to create a petition supporting
the need to table change to the Criminal Code of Canada to
include vehicular homicide.
The petition can be downloaded here
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
Although my family is committed in this long journey to bring
about change for public safety, there are no gains for us.
My mom and dad are never coming back; we are trying to make
a difference so future victims of vehicular homicide do not
have to fight this judicial obstacle. The last thing that
families need to deal with when dealing with the grief and
sudden loss of this type is the concern that those responsible
will walk away with a mere slap on the wrist; while they’ve
left the families with a life sentence. I’m sick and
tired of incompetent people making stupid decisions, and as
a result policymakers and the judicial system pardoning them
on their actions. This gross negligence should not absolve
anyone of his or her responsibility and accountability. I’m
sick and tired of their excuses! There is no excuse when it’s
clearly vehicular negligence causing death. You make a choice
when you get behind the wheel and drive recklessly; you make
a choice to get behind of a vehicle impaired; you make a choice
of either slamming on the brakes to avoid a collision or trying
to squeeze by; you make a choice of speeding up and trying
to use another car as an obstacle in your sick and twisted
game. The sad reality is that more families will have to go
through what my family is still and will continue to go through.
I hope you will recognize that no one is immune from this
type of a crime. It can happen at any time to anyone; as the
reality remains that we need to use our streets for transportation
purposes. Using our streets is a necessity not a luxury. We
are all connected by our street ways – from one part
of the city to the other; from Vancouver to Halifax. We use
our streets to get to work, bring our children to school and
many other everyday activities. This needed change is bigger
then us, it’s beyond us. We have lost all that we could
have, but you have the power to bring about this change. If
not for yourself, do it as a public safety service. Heaven
for bid, this happen to you or someone you know, do it so
that they do not have to fight this judicial battle; and perhaps
having this amendment to the Criminal Code may deter some
from acting in gross negligence while operating a motor vehicle.
Do not consider this initiative as helping us, its helping
you, and helping making our society a little more accountable.
Everyone join in our quest for justice and advocate for severe
penalties to reflect the severity of vehicular homicide.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
On behalf of fed up victims
Sincerely, Rupi K Badh
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