“Caught With A Phone....”

Got nailed on the 407 around 27 with a phone. Had me dead to rights. Not much defense, but I noted a few things on the ticket:

1. mis-spelled the abbreviation of by street - bld instead of blvd. My view on this is how can you accurately see a small black phone in a vehicle with a darker interior 20~30' away when you can't see a V printed on a license 1 foot away. Secondly, how reliable and true are his notes with such a blatant error.

2. The location on the ticket was Highway 407. There was no cross-street mentioned which shows a lack of detail.

3. I remember something long ago that may not apply now, but he wasn't wearing a hat - out of uniform?

Worth fighting or just pay the $155?

divebutt wrote:

1. mis-spelled the abbreviation of by street - bld instead of blvd.

and the spelling dilemma continues.....

It is not a fatal error, but merely an abbreviation of the complete word to start with

2. The location on the ticket was Highway 407. There was no cross-street mentioned which shows a lack of detail.

The offence did not happen at an intersection, no cross street required

3. I remember something long ago that may not apply now, but he wasn't wearing a hat - out of uniform?

That is an myth.

1 and 2 are non-issues. Read my post here about the hat issue.

1. mis-spelled the abbreviation of by street - bld instead of blvd. My view on this is how can you accurately see a small black phone in a vehicle with a darker interior 20~30' away when you can't see a V printed on a license 1 foot away. Secondly, how reliable and true are his notes with such a blatant error.

as an aside, I once saw someone get absolutely annihilated by the prosecutor, cop and JP when they they hinged their entire defence on the exact same thing... he was asking for disclosure of the cop's last eye test, brought in an eye chart.... it was hilarious

divebutt wrote:mis-spelled the abbreviation of by street - bld instead of blvd.

Seems more like a spelling error, or simply "taking a shortcut" by leaving the "V" out, than any problem with eyesight, in my opinion. I don't think it's a worthwhile avenue of defence.