What is the liability of a deaf driver who fails to hear a police vehicle's siren?

Indeed, counsel for the plaintiff argued, British Columbia courts have determined that there is a duty on motorists, when it is difficult or impossible for them to hear the approach of an emergency vehicle, to exercise a greater degree of care and attention in operating their vehicles than might otherwise be necessary. In Blackburn v. British Columbia, 2001 BCSC 1076, a police vehicle with lights and siren activated collided with another vehicle proceeding through an intersection on a green light. That driver, who was hearing-impaired, had completely failed to hear the siren and entered the intersection in the outside through lane despite the fact that traffic in the inside through lane was stopped. Meiklem J. held that the defendant police officer was 20% responsible for the accident. The plaintiff, he held, was negligent and 80% responsible in that she did not reduce her speed or exercise caution as she approached the intersection and had the volume of her radio or cassette player turned up very loudly, which impeded further her ability to hear sirens. He stated at para. 18: There is a certain subjectivity to the reasonable person test when physical disabilities are present. It is not negligent for a deaf person not to hear a siren. But a deaf person driving a car must reasonably be aware that their own safety and the safety of other motorists might be affected by that disability if reasonable compensations are not made. Visual attentiveness takes on added importance.