“Awkward Situation: Please Help!”

Hey, i was looking around for this information for quiet some time but no one has yet provided me with a straight answer.

My driving record:

2006 - Improper Right Turn (Lost 2 Demerit points)

2009 - Accident on the highway due to an improper lane change (3 demerit points) (Pending.....)

The accident in 2009 was not really my fault i was changing lanes and some guy form the other lane just slammed me frin the right with no indicator and what not... so in the moment i merged back into the left lane... resulting in an accident and the person who hit me got away... so i am the one who got the ticket.. tought luck!

This all happened in Ontario. However, i do have a court date for April 2010.

But i recently got a job in Calgary, Alberta and i moved up here, i am most likely not going to go back to ontario anytime soon.

1. What happens if i get an Alberta Driving license. Do i still have to worry about attending this court date?

2. Do i still loose the 3 demerit points from my accident, i havent paid off the ticket yet?

3. would my driving record be clean if i get a new license in alberta?

Thanks in advance for any help and sorry for the long post!

ruthless wrote:1. What happens if i get an Alberta Driving license. Do i still have to worry about attending this court date?

Yes, you do - or you can get someone to represent you in your absence. When you apply for an Alberta Driver Licence, they extract your driver history from Ontario. If you do not attend, barring a major error on the ticket, a conviction will be entered as you are deemed not to dispute the charge. MTO then gets the information, they will see that you used your information to acquire an Alberta Licence, and they will send the conviction information to Alberta.

ruthless wrote:2. Do i still loose the 3 demerit points from my accident, i havent paid off the ticket yet?

If you have not been convicted yet or pled guilty, you have not had any demerit points entered on your driver record. Once that happens, though, the Alberta Ministry of Transport will apply any demerit points to your Alberta Licence as though the offence occurred in Alberta.

ruthless wrote:3. would my driving record be clean if i get a new license in alberta?

No.

In your case, you can hire a paralegal to represent you in court for this offence. That may be your best option if you're going to be out of province. Keep in mind, if a conviction is entered against you, and you fail to pay the ticket, MTO WILL notify the authorities out west and your Alberta driver licence will be suspended for non-payment of the Ontario infraction.

Thanks radar, i verified this information and you are correct. However, i am still transferring my license to Alberta because an infraction stays on the Record for 2 years in Alberta. So i should get my points back within 2 years ..hopefully

ruthless wrote:Well.. I am wondering how many times I can defer a court date...

I received a ticket and well I was writing my exams so i defered my first court date… and now I am in Alberta working for a couple of month so I need to defer my second date as well.. is it possible to do it twice.. or do I lose the case by default?

and if i can defer it, how many times can i do so... with a legitimate reason?

This was moved over here for ease of reference for your case.

You can, theoretically, keep deferring the trial date, but eventually one JP is going to say "enough" and order the trial to proceed with or without you. Twice is usually still okay, but three times or more is asking for trouble. You can ask for a long postponement, provided that it is in advance, but they may refuse and order the trial to proceed.