“Noob:proceed Contrary To Sign At Intersection 144(9)”

Hi everyone need some advice please

I was travelling to work for last 4 weeks same route every day Westbound on Lawrence ave west , just west of Marlee venue.

I came to the left turn lane at bollingbroke rd /Lawrence ave west, Light was green Waited for a gap and made my left turn south bound onto Bolingbrooke rd.

I noticed the cop one intersection south on bollingbrook road, the Officer was just getting out of his car on the side of the road. I made a stop and turned Westbound (right)onto Cork ave. I got to the house where I park my car and the officer shows up behind me.

I received a ticket Highway Traffic Act 144(9)

Proceed Contrary to Sign at Intersection.

There are signs which I never noticed because I always glanced and thought they were bus lane signs for rush hour.

No left turn between 7-9am

While speaking to the officer I asked "are there signs? " He responded yes, I responded " I just started working in this area taking the same route every day I never noticed the sign"

I also asked how am I suppose to get in here if I cannot make a left turn. His response" there are ways you have to find it your self"

There was some other conversation asking about how this will affect my application to the Toronto police and my insurance, points etc.

After he gave me the ticket and explained my options he said this would not affect my application to join the force or my points and insurance and even offered some advice on how to prepare for the police WCT exams.

Ticket is for $110, im more concerned about the conviction I have 100% never had any incidents in my 3 years of driving in Canada, this is my first offence as a new driver my insurance is already high.

Any suggestions on possible outcomes of this case ? Everyone talks about the bilingual defense but I have not seen anyone post a successful outcome to date.

Does anyone know of the rate of , officers showing up to trial at 2700 Eglington W Court, also what is the average time frame for a trial date presently ?

dragonware wrote:Any suggestions on possible outcomes of this case ? Everyone talks about the bilingual defense but I have not seen anyone post a successful outcome to date.

Bilingual defence doesn't work. There was one case in Toronto a few years ago where a JP ruled the sign had to be bilingual, but that conviction was appealed and there has not been any success with it since. Also, Toronto as a municipality never made a commitment to fully provide bilingual services.

In most cases like this I'd suggest getting disclosure (officer's notes, and if any video evidence exists get that too), there may be some discrepancies in the notes, or the trial might be delayed too long, etc. If nothing else, unless there are unusual circumstances, usually the Prosecutors will offer you a deal such as "fail to proceed as directed," which is 0 demerit points and a lower fine. If the officer does not show up for minor cases like this, they will normally withdraw the charge. Having said that, I'm not sure how fighting a pretty straightforward ticket would look to a police recruiter, since you said you wanted to work for the Toronto Police (probably not too impressive). If you got interviewed they'd likely know about it and ask you why you chose to fight the ticket instead of pay it - I'm not a cop but I'd imagine they'd want an explanation.

2700 Eglinton is no different than the rest of Toronto. Officers usually show up since they schedule these things well in advance. Trial dates vary from about 7-14 months.

I got pics of where the cop is parked today same location and from an aerial view he is pretty far back

dragonware wrote:I got pics of where the cop is parked today same location and from an aerial view he is pretty far back

Unless his view of the intersection was obscured, that won't help. Since the sign said "no left turns," he only needed to see you turn left out of the intersection - he didn't need to see the whole thing.

I suppose you could argue the sign was not visible (you'd have to provide reasonable proof), but if you've travelled that route several times before (which you said you did), that argument is not going to impress the JP...

Im just goin to wait for a trial date and exercise my right to a trial and see what the disclosure shows.

Good luck with the police application (that's with sarcasm)