“Careless Driving Ticket (no Accident, No Witnesses) 5/15/11”

I was driving on Upper James (Hamilton) towards downtown,1130am and it was

raining, approaching Fennell Avenue and was going to make a right

turn. The light was red, and I was approaching the

intersection and preparing to yield to the traffic. As I got to the intersection an officer was driving through the intersection

and probably felt I wasn't going to stop. I didn't not skid or lose control of the

car on the dedicated right turn lane, there was no accident, no

injury. My car stopped right before the intersection.

My car had to shift to the right to hug the dedicated right turn lane.

At first I thought nothing of it as I was behind him and as I made the turn behind the officer he signalled me to pull over infront of him. He told me he had to swerve and that I cut him off. He also told me "You are not leaving here without a ticket". I had no prior convictions on my driving record and he approximately took

20mins to write the careless driving ticket.

I consulted with a friend who is a police officer in the Halton Region and told me that this was no way a "careless driving" charge, maybe a fail to yield. I already chose the option 3 and requested a first meeting attendance. Just wanted to see other insights on this situation from other people on this board.

I wouldn't say it COULDN'T be careless driving, but perhaps something like fail to yield would be more appropriate. Remember, the definition of careless driving is just "without due care and attention" or "without reasonable consideration for other people on the road". That's pretty broad and it could be argued that what happened here meets one of those 2 definitions.

That being said, a common practice for police is to "over charge" with careless, knowing that the crown can reduce it to some lesser (and perhaps more appropriate charge). There's nothing improper about that if the circumstances also satisfy the greater charge (careless). If you speak to the crown at a resolution meeting about it that will likely be what will happen for you.

thanks for the response Simon, I understand what your wrote. This is my first ever first attendance meeting so I just wanted to prepare myself what would the likely outcome might be.

Thanks again for the input!

*UPDATE*

So I called a week ago since I haven't received my first attendance meeting letter. The person told me that hadn't sent out any due to the Canada Post Strike. I got home now and got a letter that I have been convicted on June 30 of the Careless Driving? What happened here? Clerical error? I got my ticket stamped the very next day after I got the ticket with my intentions to plead not guilty. Please advise.

I know I will have to give them a call tomorrow. But just wanted to know if this has ever happened to anybody else.

So I called them this morning and told them what's with the conviction letter. They told me they "lost my paperwork" hence I got a failure to reply and got the conviction letter!!

She then told me she would have to go to justice of the peace and re-open it since it was their mistake. This got me fuming, I know people make mistakes but this is a serious mistake on their part.

She continued that I would have to go to trial without first attendance. Just wanted to rant.

Ok, I know some people maybe just reading this and moving on but, I have a feeling I'm stripped of my rights here. The person in the courthouse told me she can't book my first attendance meeting anymore since I got convicted and they are re-opening the case due to their mistake.

Can someone enlighten me in what to do here? I asked her why I can't have a first attendance meeting, she said that's the rule since I got convicted (again not my fault, due to them losing their paperwork)

She told me that she there nothing being taken away from me because I can still have a plea bargain on the day of the trial. But isn't it my right to have this first attendance meeting? I'm really trying to push for this. I just don't want to piss her off.

Thoughts?

I undertand what you're saying but there is no right to a resolution meeting. It's just something they do to make the process more efficient. I suspect you will still have the same opportunity the morning of.

I don't really think you have much other recourse here.

Thanks again Simon. I never went through this experience and after reading through all the threads here I though it was always part of the process. Thanks for the clarification.