“Fatal Error For Wrong Location On Ticket?”

I there. I received a speeding ticket but the location indicated by the officer was "county road 9". I was actually stopped on county road 10. Is this a fatal error allowing me to get the charges "quashed" as they say?

Thanks

Most likely not. If there was no location, you would have a better chance. The justice will rule that you should know where you were when you were stopped.

However, you could argue that you were misled in preparing your defence by this error. You were prepared to defend against the charge based on the fact that you were never on that road. Correcting the error would impact your defence and effect the outcome of your trial. The judge will likely correct the error and grant you an adjournment to prepare your defence again. The adjournement opens up the possibility of a stay.

I'm not allowed to link directly, but more info on fatal errors are on my site (Step 5 -->quash the trial). You can also check out R. v. Donovan, 2005 NBPC 1 (CanLII) but keep in mind that it's New Brunswick when reading the sections of their charging act.

You might have a case. In the labour laws, people in authority must be competent in their duties, know their responsibilites, know their surroundings, and consequences of their actions. Even though this isn't a labour dispute, the principle of this situation is fairly close.

The officer should have known what road he was on. If you were lost would you have known what road you were on? I think not. Well in this case the officer was working in his jurisdiction and should have known his surroundings. Was the office competent when he/she wrote the ticket. If he/she says yes, then why did the officer make a mistake in the street name. Sure a mistake was made but then you made a mistake also for speeding. If you can prove that you were on a different road then you have a strong case. Otherwise it's your word against his, and in this case the officer wins.

Go to court and tell them you were never speeding on county rd 9. Sounds like you were around Orangeville. One road is east-west the other is north-south. Got more info?