“Failure To Stop - Do I Have A Case???”

On Nov. 5th I received a ticket for failing to stop. I do admit I didn't fully stop but I didn't completely ignore the stop sign but did a "rolling stop". I did have a reason for not fully stopping but the officer gave me a ticket regardless.

Two days earlier, on Nov. 2nd, I had toe surgery on both of my big toes. My toes were bandaged up, sore and swollen. So swollen in fact that I had to wear running shoes all the time as none of my other shoes would fit.

I received the ticket rather close to my house and this was the 3rd stop sign on the way to work. At the first two stop signs I made sure to press the pedal with the ball of my foot which required some weird manouvering and felt quite odd.

At that 3rd stop sign, I pressed with my toes and it hurt like a bitc% so after quickly glancing around the intersection to make sure I would not cause an accident, I let go of the pedal resulting in my "rolling stop".

Do I have a case or should I not even bother with court? I do have proof of the surgery plus pictures of my swollen toes.

Thanks.

If you cannot stop your vehicle properly perhaps you should not have driven...I can see the JP asking/ telling you that

OPS

I have thought of that but I could have stopped it's just that I had to use my foot differently than I normally would.

Problem is, with this particular offence, you either stop or you do not. Often this offence is viewed as "strict liability," which basically means that if you did commit the offence, you have two defences: 1. Defence of necessity (life-threatening emergency requiring you to fail to stop), or 2. Defence of due diligence (you took reasonable steps to avoid committing the offence). Unfortunately, having painfully sore toes due to surgery is probably not sufficient. If your brakes failed suddenly and unexpectedly, or the sign was obscured, that would be a defence of due diligence.

You might, however, be able to plea-bargain it down to a lesser offence, if the officer shows up for court. (Where did this offence take place?) There is a possibility that the Prosecutor may withdraw the charge if you give an explanation, but I would not bet on it. If it goes to trial, I'm not very optimistic your explanation would be a successful defence.