“Following Too Closely?”

Hi,

I originally got the ticket in September of 2007.

I was driving down the DVP and as I was driving on the Richmond Offramp, the car infront of me started to slam on its brakes, so I followed suit...

The car infront of me did this about 3 times...and all 3 times I would stop in time....

Finally the car pulls over to the side (The offramp has 2 lanes) and as I pass by to the right of the car....

It was an officer who shouted "Pull over"...from the driver seat

As we pulled over, he gave me a ticket for following too closely...

no sirens, no lights, no nothing...

I know for a fact I was atleast 3 car lengths behind him.

If I was anywhere close to him, I would've smashed into him (which I think was his intent)...I didn't even come close to hitting him.

I filed a court date and got a representative to fight the case for me in court.

Last week (14 months later) I get a letter in the mail from the court saying the ticket got argued down to "Unsafe start" and there's a $50 fine. I called the firm who represented me and the gentleman said he got the ticket reduced to "unsafe start" and the points were reduced from 4 to 2"

But everywhere I look, the only Province that issues demerit points for "unsafe start" is British Columbia and i'm in ontario...

So I'm not sure if I really do get 2 demerit points...

Do they just reduce the charge and add the points on my record?

Or did they give me the wrong offence and there's no points?

and what the heck DOES "Unsafe start" mean??

The officer was not driving in a marked car, sometimes I wonder what would've happend if I just sped off and didn't look over at him..haha

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Hi Tom. Interesting story. Any idea what section unsafe start falls under?

I've never heard of unsafe start before. It may exist, but maybe not.

We all know the term "merge" or "merging" but they is no merging offence.

You may not have heard the paralegal properly. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge on your behalf. It doesn't matter what charge or whether you did it or even if it is remotely connected to what you were doing that day. The lesser charge counts for the "win" they promised you which is a reduction of your ticket in either points, fine or a combination of both.

The charge is likely proceeding or starting "not in safety" or something like that which is under s142 and carries 2 pts. It's usually an $85 fine.

You might want to reconsider what you believe to be a safe following distance. I teach my kids to pretend someone is passing you (probably ME) and they might need to get back in line in front of you. Have you left enough space for them to safely merge back in line?? At 3 car-lengths, definitely not. And when a cop thinks you're too close, you probably are

My oldest boy failed to take my advise and totaled our "spare" car into the back of a guy that slammed on his brakes (claimed there was an animal on the road). The truth is, they got into a "tough-guy" altercation and my boy paid the price (sound familiar perhaps??). He got a Following too Close ticket. We chose the Ticket-Fighter route. Cost $400 to have her emerge from the courtroom and state the charge has been dropped because both the cop AND the victim were no-shows, LOL. Heck, I could have done that!! Doh!

P.S. Neon parts for sale. Cheap!

Failure To Signal (OHTA 142 (1), (2), & (8 )) are all 2 points

Can you tell us the actual section of the OHTA that you were charged with? The one that you were convicted for that is. Our Demetrit point Demerit Points Table is complete and all sections that have points are there. If you were charged with, say, OHTA 65(2) (I don't even know what that is), and have to pay a fine, but it is not on the table - therefore no points.