“Careless Driving Charge On The 402”

First off, I'd like to thank and appreciate everyone of you guys for reading this and providing me with some sort of advice or insight in advance as this will be a long read.

The story:

This happened right before the Christmas holidays on the Hwy 402. I was driving along the passing lane going eastbound on the 402. The weather conditions were not that great. It was snowing and therefore I was going at a pace of about 70/80 km/h. Everything was fine when all of the sudden I hear a "dmph" sound and felt a hit on the rear end of the passenger side of the vehicle. This had caused me to lose control and fall into a ditch on the left. Being in complete shock I proceeded to checking for myself for any physical injuries. After confirming I was alive, I then got out of my car and took a look at my vehicle. The whole right end of the rear bumper was broken and hanging with the a bit of the left end still attached. I then looked across from the ditch and found a transport truck parked in the middle of the road. When he noticed that I got out of the car, he got out of his truck and ran across to me and the first thing he said was, " Why did you hit me?! but I am glad you are ok." Me still in shock, replied, "umm no.. That is not what happened! look at my car! you clearly rear ended me!" I then proceeded to ask for his drivers information, but he refused. So as I was calling the police, an OPP officer had arrived. He took the took the truck drivers driving info and told him to move somewhere ahead where he will not be blocking any traffic. Then, he asked me what had happened. I replied, "I was driving, lost control when something hit me from the back and fell into the ditch, when I got out I saw parked truck and the driver claiming that I hit his truck. The police then proceeded to trying to get me out of the ditch with no luck. A tow truck was needed to get me out. As we were waiting for the tow truck, I was scrambling to look for my insurance policy and ended up calling the insurance company for it. After he grabbed my drivers information, he drove away to the truck driver. When he finally came back, he needed my side of the story for the accident report. So I said everything mentioned above and now being a little bit less shocked, I claimed that the truck rear ended me. My car still being in the ditch was examined for damage, and the only damage found was the rear bumper on the passenger side where i was hit was broken. I took 2 pictures of the rear. Nothing on the side of the car or the front was damaged. The officer claims I had went into the slush, lost control and fell into the ditch and as my car came up from the ditch, the back bumper was torn off. I thought and still think that claim is ridiculous and told him that as the truck stopped because he hit me and he even claimed that I hit the front of his truck. However, I was not changing lanes nor was any other part of my car damaged. After a tow truck arrived and got me out of the ditch the officer says he does not like how I was giving him a different story and said that he was supposed to be off an hour ago, but still needs to get the truck drivers side of the story. I told him, this is what happened and that I would like the other party's driving information. That is when he told me he is not done the report yet, but he would call me in the morning at 10am with the accident report number and I should be fine driving off. I was concerned with what he was telling me as my car was just pulled out from the ditch with the rear bumper hanging, but he said everything seems to be working fine and that it was a legal car and proceeded to helping me cut off my hanging bumper. I was concerned with that decision, but had no choice.

After all the shock I managed to crawl my way back to Toronto. The next day, the officer did not call not call me. However, I managed to finally get a hold of the accident report number to provide my insurance company for an investigation. It was Christmas time, so everything was closed and people were off on holiday, but I finally got into the dealership and got an appraiser to come look at my car. The only thing damaged and needing replacement was the rear bumper. The next week, I got my car fixed when yesterday the same OPP officer showed up at where I reside and told me that unfortunately with every accident there is always someone at fault and with both sides of the story and his theory of what had occurred, he issued me a Careless Driving ticket. I was very upset as there was no witnesses and it was just my word vs the truck drivers and my car was damaged in the rear. He spent half an hour with me explaining to me that I should definitely fight the ticket and there can definitely be a deal arranged as no one was hurt and it was a minor accident. He told me straight up that I should not pay for this as there are serious insurance implications and that he really had no choice, but to give me this ticket as there was no other ticket he could give me as I was by no means speeding or changing lanes. He also told me that if I took this to trial and bargained for a lower fine, it could definitely be arranged to something as small as 2 points and 120 dollars as most of the times the Crown will ask for their opinions for making deals and he would definitely support that. He told me that the truck driver may not show up if you fight this ticket, but remember that he can always show up and it may be enough to convict me. He then once again stressed that I should not pay this ticket and fight it, but make a deal as if I were to lose the trial, this Careless Driving charge will be severe. I feel I need to fight this ticket as I was the victim in this whole accident, but now instead I am getting charged. However, I did go into court and chose the option of fighting the ticket as there was no witnesses, I have 2 pictures of my damaged rear, and I was the victim in this whole mess. As of right now I do not have the accident report yet so I do not know what the other party has claimed and what the officer's take on it is.

I am wondering what my chances are of winning something like this, as I do want to fight this and not get pushed into a deal with the prosecutor as I do not deserve it.

Again, thank you for this ridiculously long read. I really appreciate it.

You could have a pretty strong case to win this completely depending on what was recorded. It's hard to tell without knowing what the other side has said.

You have to request a trial and request for disclosure by fax/mail/whatever. You'll want to see all the notes taken that day and find out what was said.

It's possible with the snow, the driver behind you may have claimed that you weren't using the lanes properly and you came into his lane and he smacked the corner of your bumper. It's terribly common that when it snows, people tend to take up 2 lanes following tire tracks in the middle of the road without any sense that there are people better equipped for the snow and still have the right to pass you. It could be that you were doing this, or he claimed you did. If this is the case, you'd probably want to consider any plea deal available to you. If this type of scenario was never mentioned, you have a pretty strong case.

thank you for your time and input. i really appreciate it. yah ive contacted a paralegal to help me with the case cause i do not think this is right.. we are in the process of receiving the accident report and i guess it everything ends up working against me.. ill end up going and making the deal myself.. but both the paralegal and i feel like i have a strong case