“Failure To Come To Complete Stop Turing Right On A Red”

My friend has her court date in the morning and is in need of help. At the time of the ticketing, she had her G2 for two months. Here is what happened.

We were coming back from Barrie, she was making a right turn on a red light and did a rolling stop. She was not pulled over for at least five minutes after that and had no idea why she was being pulled over. She was under the impression that you only had to yield to oncoming traffic when making a right on the red unless there was a sign saying stop here on red, which at this set of lights there was no such sign. She explained the situation to the officer, but ended up getting the maximum fine of $325 and 3 demerit points. This was her first offence and she has not received any tickets or traffic violations since then. She has already put in the plea of not guilty, which is what the court date resulted from.

In the Guide for defendants for provincial offences cases, it stated:

Strict liability is one of the lines of defences and it says "you may raise a defence that you reasonably believed in a mistaken set of facts, which, if true, would render the act innocent".

What would be her best option in order to get the fine dropped or at least not get the points?

At this point, its a little late to file for a disclosure to see what evidence the officer has against her, and base your argument against that. Best thing to do is show up and hope that the officer doesn't show up, otherwise, if he does, just apologize, say it was an honest mistake, you will probably get it reduced to a lower charge.

Will.Moreland wrote:She explained the situation to the officer, but ended up getting the maximum fine of $325 and 3 demerit points.

This is probably written down in the officers notes. If you hadn't waited till the absolute last second, you could have requested disclosure and found out for sure. If she's already admitted guilt to the officer (which it sounds like she already has), good luck at a trial. It's over before it even starts.

Will.Moreland wrote:This was her first offence and she has not received any tickets or traffic violations since then. She has already put in the plea of not guilty, which is what the court date resulted from.

Your friend had a G2 for 2 months. It's hardly something to boast about, but there's still a chance they'll reduce the charge in return for a guilty plea.

Will.Moreland wrote:

In the Guide for defendants for provincial offences cases, it stated:

Strict liability is one of the lines of defences and it says "you may raise a defence that you reasonably believed in a mistaken set of facts, which, if true, would render the act innocent".

Going through a red is an absolute liability offense, not a strict liability.

Will.Moreland wrote:What would be her best option in order to get the fine dropped or at least not get the points?

You'll talk to the prosecutor before any trial will take place. Just show up and listen to them. They'll likely make you an offer just for showing up, but not if you start throwing out reasons why you think you're not guilty. At that point they'll have no choice but to continue with a trial. They are not going to force a plea on someone who believes they are not guilty.