“Stunt Driving Questions (charged Under Section 172)”

Hi,

My representative attended the summons last week to acknowledge the ticket. Trial has been set for late October.

I'm still hoping that the representative will be able to plea down to 49km/h+ under section 128. In a worst case scenario where the rep cannot do anything to help me, is the fine for a first offence going to be $2,000, or could I get fined the full $10,000 amount?

Does a police officer have the discretion to charge under 172 or 128? I'm still kind of upset about all of this and keep asking myself why the officer could not have just charged me under section 128, considering the fact that I do not have a criminal record and that I have no prior tickets/demerit points.

At 57km/h over the limit (147 in a posted 90), is the police officer still able to charge under 128?

Thanks

The 172/128 discretion has nothing to do with your past history; most Ontario LEO have a directive to charge under 172 for +50km/hr; even if they wanted to charge under 128, they simply can not.

If you or your representative take this charge to trial and lose, you'll most likely face the minimum $2000 fine.

Typically officers are being directed by their Crowns/departments that there is no discretion with stunt driving. Part of it is a public safety issue (the more serious the offence the less likely discretion is warranted) and part of it deals with how the section is written. Section 172 is somewhat unique as it typically states "the officer shall", indicating a requirement to comply. Many other sections of the HTA use the terminology "the officer may" indicating the possibility of discretion.