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Wagners has run rural injury files across this province since 1982, and the questions people bring us after a wildlife crash are different from the ones our car accident lawyer hears after a city fender-bender.
Because there is no defendant, a fault claim works by proving that another person fell short of a duty they owed you, and wildlife owes nobody a duty of care.
Many callers think they have lost their chance to recover when the claim may instead proceed through another insurance policy.
The animal is not owned, not insured, and not answerable, which surprises drivers who expect every crash to involve another responsible party.
A moose collision claim in Nova Scotia, therefore, starts with coverage rather than blame, which is why the coverage page of your policy matters more here than a police diagram.
Every Nova Scotia automobile policy carries Section B accident benefits.
The terms are set under the Insurance Act, R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 231.
Those benefits cover treatment costs and a weekly income benefit regardless of what caused the crash, which is what makes them the backbone of a wildlife claim.
Striking an animal is usually handled under comprehensive coverage rather than collision, and insurers commonly rate the two differently. Check the wording before you assume your premium will jump.
Drivers routinely tell an adjuster they were at fault out of politeness. Nobody is at fault when an animal enters the road, and saying otherwise complicates the file.
Struck by wildlife on the highway? Discover your options for recovery by reviewing your legal rights after a Halifax wildlife collision to ensure your damages are fully covered.
Two very different patterns, split roughly at the Canso Causeway where you were driving, change the animal, the injury, and the evidence.
Rural files take longer to document because the nearest hospital may be an hour away, and the first record comes days later.
Cape Breton holds about 5,000 moose. The mainland population is estimated at 1,000 or fewer and is listed as endangered under the Nova Scotia Endangered Species Act. That is why a moose file is almost always a Cape Breton file.
A collision with an animal that size damages a vehicle in ways a deer strike does not, and the claims that follow are among the most critical we handle. The effect on a driver's confidence is part of the claim as well, and it belongs in the file whether or not it came up on day one.
Deer strikes are more common across areas such as Truro and rural Nova Scotia, the Eastern Shore, and the Annapolis Valley. The claims we handle often arise from situations involving:
Record the highway number and exact location as soon as you can. A rural trunk highway carries different maintenance responsibilities than a municipal street.
Sometimes, a second party made a bad situation worse. The animal starts the sequence, but a person can still add to the harm. Parties worth investigating in a rural wildlife file:
Most of these lead nowhere. The one that does not can change a claim entirely.
Someone following too closely, or traveling too fast for the conditions, may be legally responsible for the second impact even though the first one was unavoidable. That driver's insurer becomes a real source of compensation, and dividing the harm between the two impacts becomes the central question in the file.
A claim involving unsafe signage, roadside vegetation, or fencing may be brought against a public road authority, but specific procedural rules apply.
Under section 12 of the Proceedings against the Crown Act, R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 360, a provincial claim names the Attorney General of Nova Scotia representing the Crown, not the highway or the department.
Section 18 of the same Act is the one that catches people. No action can be brought against the Crown unless two months of written notice have been served on the Attorney General first, setting out your name and address, the cause of action, and the court it is going to.
Courts also draw a line between a government's budget decisions, which are generally not open to challenge, and a failure to carry out maintenance it had already committed to, which can be.
Since provincial health coverage pays for hospital care, the injury claim focuses on the other losses the collision caused, including:
Should the crash prove fatal, section 5 of the Fatal Injuries Act, R.S.N.S. 1989, c. 163, allows a court to compensate close family for the care and companionship they lost.
A moose collision claim in Nova Scotia is built only around vehicle damage, undervalues the part that actually lasts, and valuing the rest takes medical opinion and employment records.
People underestimate this part. Canadian courts treat psychological injury as compensable on the same footing as physical injury, and a claimant does not need a formal psychiatric diagnosis to establish it. Evidence is still required.
Two years is the usual answer, and rural files test it more than most.
Under section 8 of the Limitation of Actions Act, S.N.S. 2014, c. 35, the clock generally runs from the point at which the harm and its cause became known.
Claims involving the Province carry the two-month notice requirement on top of that. The first step after any wildlife crash is a police report, because the roadside marks are gone after the first plow or the next heavy rain.
Photographs of the vehicle before repair are what people most wish they had taken. Damage height and pattern tell an adjuster more than any description does.
Animal crashes raise practical questions that no other collision does.
Yes. Report the collision promptly to the police and your insurer. It creates an independent record of the location, timing, and circumstances once the scene has been cleared.
Not necessarily, though it can raise questions about fault. Insurers may argue the response was excessive, while visibility, road conditions, and reaction time provide the context.
In many cases, no, because wildlife collisions generally fall under comprehensive coverage rather than an at-fault loss. Practices vary, so ask your broker to confirm in writing.
They have a claim of their own, against the policy on the vehicle you were driving, not against you personally.
Yes. Damage patterns, hair or blood on the vehicle, and the timing of the call help establish what happened without a witness.
Not much, if the crash happened here. The policy that responds is usually the one on the vehicle rather than the one at home.
Rural files reward early advice, because the evidence is weather-dependent and the coverage questions are the ones people guess at. We work across the province from our Halifax and Mahone Bay offices, and the first conversation costs nothing.
Reach Wagners on (902) 425-7330 or 1-800-465-8794 and tell us what came out of the trees. Nothing about that conversation commits you to anything at all.
Rural files reward early advice, because the evidence is weather-dependent and the coverage questions are the ones people guess at. We work across the province from our Halifax and Mahone Bay offices, and the first conversation costs nothing.
Reach Wagners on (902) 425-7330 or 1-800-465-8794 and tell us what came out of the trees. Nothing about that conversation commits you to anything at all.
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