“Charged With Careless”

I have been driving for 33 years never had any accidents. I was recently charged with careless driving. I was going north at a intersection turning left<west>, I had waited for oncoming traffic to pass that was going south. There was a pick up truck turning east and a car behind that. I proceeded to make my left hand turn the car behind the pick up sped out around the truck and entered the intersection and hit my rear passenger door. The intersection has no marked turning lane. I had a puppy in a crate that was possibly injured and so I exchanged information with the driver that hit me and took the pup to a vet. The driver of the car has a witness stating I turned in front of her. I am sure the witness saw the impact however as there are no marked lanes I feel the driver that hit my crv should not have passed that truck on the right side...

I will be pleading not guilty to careless and hope they will offer a lesser charge. . Does anyone have any advice of suggestions that might help my case?

Go and talk to the prosecutor on your first appearance, likely reduced if not w/d.

Make a calm rational refutal of the grounds for the charge.

IF you they don't work with you, set a trial date and get representation...

Thank you very much for this reply. I did not think I would be charged as she passed on the right of the truck. But my hope is the prosecutor will withdraw the charge or reduce... Should I provide photos of the intersection showing there are no marked lanes? Should I post an ad/sign in that area asking for any witnesses? Thanks again very much....

I'd just point out that it's legal to pass on the right a vehicle turning to the left (or signalling to do so). I think a charge of turn not in safety would have been more appropriate, and likely what you'll be offered by the Crown.

I have been informed by a friend that is a Policemen that I should have been read a "caution" before I gave or wrote my statement as to what happened in the accident I was in. What does this mean? Can the charges be dropped because I was not cautioned? I have a witness as my sister was with me at the police station...

The police should caution you when they have grounds to believe you've committed an offence. During the initial stages of the investigation, police may not yet have any reason to believe you committed an offence in which case a caution isn't required. Determining if your statement is admissible will be dependent on when it was provided and what the police knew/believed at the time.

If the statement should have been cautioned and was not, it would likely be excluded (i.e. can't be used as evidence in Court). This does not necessarily result in the charges being dropped, since the Crown can still use other evidence to prove their case. If your statement is the only evidence however, then they may withdraw the charge.

If you're thinking about making any kind of charter argument (i.e. trying to get your statement excluded) it may be worth consulting with a paralegal.

I would suggest that a lawyer may be more appropriate than a paralegal, unless they really know what they're doing. This area of law (voluntariness/exclusion of statements) is rapidly evolving and there is recent appellate case law on the topic that it is important to understand. It's not as simple as "if you weren't cautioned then the charges will be dropped". You also have to consider factors like the s. 10(b) right to counsel and the issue of whether the statement was compelled under the HTA.

Regarding my careless charge, I took this to court provided photos of the intersection and all charges were withdrawn by the Crown....