The second limb of Spanjol v The Queen (other contributing causes) applies to culpable driving causing death even where the deceased's conduct was completely independent of the offender's and there was no prior interaction between them. A deceased's failure to wear a seatbelt, where it is established on the balance of probabilities that the deceased would have survived if wearing a seatbelt, is a factor to be taken into account in reduction of sentence, but the weight to be given to it is relatively modest where it did not contribute to the collision and did not diminish the offender's moral culpability. The question whether the second limb extends to other forms of victim conduct such as jaywalking was left open.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 14 later cases that cite this judgment.
3 of the 14 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.