The driver of a truck whose raised box slammed into the Skyway Bridge two summers ago has been sentenced to one year in jail for dangerous driving.

But Sukhvinder Rai is "strongly considering an appeal," David Locke, his lawyer, said after his client's sentencing Monday.

Justice Fred Campling called Rai's failure to lower the box of his truck before driving on the QEW "shocking and frightening."

Campling didn't accept Locke's argument that Rai was disadvantaged by outmoded safety mechanisms on his truck.

That is like a motorist who backs up over a child and says a camera would have prevented such a tragedy, he said.

"Oh, it's not my fault. I didn't have a backup camera."

Rai was the operator of the truck and should have been responsible for the box mechanism, Campling added.

"And you grossly failed to do that."

Campling noted the maximum sentence for dangerous driving is five years. The deputy Crown Todd Norman asked for one year in jail while the defence sought a conditional sentence.

Upon sentencing, Rai declined to say anything before a bailiff led him, dressed in a light-blue dress shirt and dark slacks, in handcuffs out a side courtroom door.

The 36-year-old Brampton man is also banned from driving for three years. He must pay a victim surcharge of $200.

The July 31, 2014 Skyway crash sent three motorists to hospital with minor injuries, caused $1.2 million in damage to the bridge and snarled traffic during the Civic Holiday weekend.

The fallout could have been much worse, Campling said.

"Obviously, it hit the first bridge that it could and we are lucky nobody was seriously hurt or killed as a result."

Rai was convicted of impaired driving in 2008. Breathalyzer readings taken after the Skyway crash were collected after the three-hour window allowable under the Criminal Code, making that evidence inadmissible.

However, the judge noted he would consider that an OPP officer had detected an odour of alcohol on Rai and that a bottle of booze was found next to his driver's seat.

"It's my view that you are a continuing danger on the road," he said, rejecting Locke's request for a conditional sentence that could involve community service.

Though he raised the issue during sentencing, Campling agreed with Locke that the criminal proceeding wasn't the appropriate setting to determine how much, if any, restitution Rai owed victims.

Some victims could still be compensated in a civil proceeding, he noted.

Outside court, Locke reiterated that issue is up to insurance companies to sort out.

"I only know that insurance companies are talking," he said, but noted he didn't know the details of any civil litigation.

Locke suggested his client may seek an appeal, which must be launched within 30 days of sentencing.

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"Well, we're very disappointed in the result here today."

Rai, a married man, has two children to support, Locke added.

"He's going through a rough time."