In culpable driving cases involving competitive racing, where the co-racer's conduct was a significant contributing factor to the offender's driving and was itself an important and substantial cause of the fatal accident, the sentencing judge must give appropriate weight to both dimensions of the Spanjol principles: (1) the co-racer's conduct moderated the offender's moral culpability, and (2) the co-racer's conduct was an additional factor outside the offender's control that materially caused the accident. A characterisation of the mitigatory effect as only 'very moderate' was held to be insufficient in such circumstances. The majority upheld the convictions, finding that the applicant's participation in the race was a substantial and operating cause of the deaths notwithstanding Churchill's own gross negligence, drug use, and tyre condition.
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