Section 2102 | CALCRIM (Jury Instructions)

[The People [also] allege that the defendant failed to perform the
following legal (duty/duties) while driving the vehicle: (the duty to
exercise ordinary care at all times and to maintain proper control of the
vehicle/
<insert other duty or duties alleged>).]
[You may not find the defendant guilty unless all of you agree that the
People have proved that the defendant (committed [at least] one illegal
act/[or] failed to perform [at least] one duty).]
<Alternative A—unanimity required; see Bench Notes>
[You must all agree on which (act the defendant committed/ [or] duty
the defendant failed to perform).]
<Alternative B—unanimity not required; see Bench Notes>
[But you do not have to all agree on which (act the defendant
committed/ [or] duty the defendant failed to perform).]
[Using ordinary care means using reasonable care to prevent reasonably
foreseeable harm to someone else. A person fails to exercise ordinary
care if he or she (does something that a reasonably careful person would
not do in the same situation/ [or] fails to do something that a reasonably
careful person would do in the same situation).]
[An act causes bodily injury to another person if the injury is the direct,
natural, and probable consequence of the act and the injury would not
have happened without the act. A natural and probable consequence is
one that a reasonable person would know is likely to happen if nothing
unusual intervenes. In deciding whether a consequence is natural and
probable, consider all of the circumstances established by the evidence.]
[There may be more than one cause of injury. An act causes bodily
injury to another person only if it is a substantial factor in causing the
injury. A substantial factor is more than a trivial or remote factor.
However, it need not be the only factor that causes the injury.]
New March 2018, effective July 2018; Revised September 2019
BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
The court has a sua sponte duty to give this instruction defining the elements of the
crime.
If the prosecution alleges under element 3 that the defendant committed an act
forbidden by law, the court has a sua sponte duty to specify the predicate offense
alleged and to instruct on the elements of that offense. (People v. Minor (1994) 28
Cal.App.4th 431, 438–439 [33 Cal.Rptr.2d 641]; People v. Ellis (1999) 69
Cal.App.4th 1334, 1339 [82 Cal.Rptr.2d 409].)
CALCRIM No. 2102
VEHICLE OFFENSES
136

If the prosecution alleges under element 3 that the defendant neglected to perform a
duty imposed by law, the court has a sua sponte duty to instruct on the duty
allegedly neglected. (See People v. Minor, supra, 28 Cal.App.4th at pp. 438–439.) If
the prosecution alleges that the defendant neglected the general duty of every driver
to exercise ordinary care (see People v. Oyass (1985) 173 Cal.App.3d 663, 669 [219
Cal.Rptr. 243]), the court should give the bracketed definition of “ordinary care.”
If causation is at issue, the court has a sua sponte duty to instruct on proximate
caus