“135 In A 100”

I attended a funeral on Thursday afternoon and returned that same evening as I was required to work Friday. During my drive home, I was pulled over and ticketed for speeding on Hwy 416 at approx. 10pm in North Grenville. I had seen the same speed trap when I was travelling south toward the 401 earlier that same day.

At the time of the incident, I was driving in the right hand lane whereas there was another vehicle in the left lane right beside me (there was not much traffic on the road). We had been side by side overtaking and falling behind each other off and on from the time we merged off the 401 onto the 416 (at various speeds), perhaps for 30 or 40 kms. I mostly remained in the right lane, he mostly in the left.

At the time I was clocked by the officer, he claimed I was overtaking the other vehicle and doing 135kmph (the other vehicle overtook me a few moments after we passed the patrol car and the officer noted this but said I had been overtaking him when he clocked me on radar). I think he mistook my overtaking him as his slowing down.

I was conscience of my speed during this entire trip and never surpassed 120kmph. When he told me 135kmph I was surprised and I told him I was not going that speed. He offered to show me the radar gun but I declined to go look as I did not suspect it showed anything less than what he stated (and I did not think it would change a thing). The officer returned to my vehicle quickly and presented me with a ticket for 135 kmph and told me to be cautious when I merged back onto the hwy (the shortest exchange I have ever had with an officer).

I suspect the officer must have clocked another car and mistook it for being me (or that his radar was not properly calibrated that night). I had just got new tires put on my vehicle, and worried if they might have put larger tires on the car, but I checked the next day and they were the correct tires.

How do you recommend I proceed with this situation?

Bite the bullet and pay the fine (I can easily afford to pay it), hire a para legal to try and fix this for me? or plead not guilty and drive back to Brockville and try to defend myself (it would be my word against the officers and that never goes well).

I am not concerned with the fine, its the demerit points and the blemish on my driving record that bothers me. Also (at least a bit), it's a matter of principal as I am sure he got it wrong.

Yroc wrote:I think he mistook my overtaking him as his slowing down.

I was driving somewhat beside the another vehicle (the other vehicle was in the left lane, I was in the right lane). I suspect that vehicle was going faster than I was and that he or she spotted the patrol car and slowed down significantly.

I never altered my speed and the slowing in the left lane made it appear as if I was speeding by that car to overtake it in the right lane even though I never altered my speed in any way.

You will need to file for disclosure, and go from there.

You will have no legal leg to stand on until you do.

Do I do this before or after I plead not guilty. If I plead not guilty and discover I will have no ability to defend myself after seeing the disclosure, do I still retain the option to pay the fine, or must I appear in court?

I am also wondering if anyone can help me ID the fine amount. To me it is $205 or $215 or $255 or $265 I cannot be certain.

Here is a picture instead of a scanned copy of the ticket. You can better see the problem.