“Failed To Stop At A Stop Sign Officer Said To Go To Court”

Hi, I have a court date coming up on the 19th, I got my ticket last year on december 3rd. I was driving on a very dark road I think it might have been raining that day too and I did not see the stop sign at all. The police officer stops me and sees that I'm a new driver and said that he didn't want to ruin my record but said that he has to give me a ticket because it was all caught on his camera but he told me to go to court.

So what does this mean? Is he not going to show up and I can just plea not guilty?

I took a few pictures of the place recently but they are not that good, except for the fact that they show that there is no white line on the ground anywhere and that the stop sign is a bit off to the side on a pole.

A couple things to be aware of:

1) you were charged December 3rd, and I'm assuming your court date is coming up after that date plus one year. Take a look through any threads about how to file an 11b charter motion- the argument could be made that your rights were infringed upon due to failure to be granted a trial within a reasonable amount of time (generally 11 months from date of charge). If this is carried out successfully the justice of the peace will have no choice but to have the charge withdrawn.

2) Officers are lawfully required to go to court- and they generally show up, or they risk being documented and 'fined' under the Police Services Act. Expect him to be present, however, certain circumstances may cause him not to be present which is good for you... however I wouldn't count on it.

3) There are certain regulations signage must follow in order for them to be lawful- sections of Ontario Regulations (google it) within the Highway Traffic Act describe the lawful manner in which signage must be displayed. Read these regulations over and compare them to the signage in question. There does not have to be a stop line in place for the stop sign to be lawful.

4) The fact that it was raining, the fact that it was dark out, the fact that you're a new driver, the fact that you honestly didn't see the sign, are all NOT defenses to the charge whatsoever.

Thanks for the very descriptive answer! I really appreciate it.

Regarding the charter 11B, I don't think I can file it now since there is only a week left before the court date and I read on one of the threads on this website that it should be done at least 15 days prior to the court date.

Last time I went to court for a parking ticket the prosecutor discharged the ticket himself because it was about 11 month after the incident, maybe he will do it this time as well? Or are they more strict about tickets with demerit points?

Also the police officer clearly gave me a hint that he was going to help me in court, I believe he might have actually even said it straight up, is there something I should be ready for? What might he do that will help me out?

Don't overestimate the ability of the officer to "help you out'' in court. Once the ticket is issued, it is technically out of their hands and they lose the ability to affect the outcome. They can make recommendations to the prosecutor, but only the prosecutor can affect the ticket now. So conceivably, the officer may want to help you but the prosecutor won't play ball and then you're stuck with it.

Oh that sucks I thought he could actually do something about it. Thanks for letting me know!

So I went to court today, was a bit nervous not gonna lie. I ended up winning the case with no points and no fine, I honestly have NO idea how or what the hell happened! I was pretty oblivious when the judge told me that I could leave now.

Out of the 15 or so people in the court room only 1 police officer showed up. When I just entered the court room I went up to the prosecutor and I told her my name and she said she'd make me a deal; no points (I got 2 originally) but a $65 fine from the $110 I originally received. Before I went to the court room I had decided that I was going to plead not guilty no matter what because I did not want his on my record. As you may expect I agreed to the offer to plead guilty of a lesser charge. After a few people were called up it was finally my turn to go up to the microphone. As I went up I stated my name and then the prosecutor called out the batch number of the police officer who gave me the ticket. After no one stood up they said that all charges have been dropped and I was free to go, it was pretty shocking as I was ready to pay the $65 fine. Can anyone explain why she called for the officer in my case? For all of the cases previous to mine no officer batch was called out. I was just wondering what happen.... Other people had speeding tickets and one had been charged for driving while using a handheld device. Any ideas?

The officer did help you out by not showing up (presumably intentionally).

The prosecutor has to call out for the officer. And if the officer doesn't show up then your case has to be withdrawn. Nothing surprising.

The "people" before you are very likely not defendants (like yourself) themselves. They are likely to be representatives (paralegals) of the defendants. They are usually dealt with first when the court session begins. They were probably handling other issues (adjournment, disclosure, settling a deal, guilty plea on behalf of client, whatever) that don't require their respective officer's presence.