“Failure To Use Low Beams - Following”

I recently received a ticket for failure to use low beams - while following - Ticket was issued Sec 168 (

- it was on the 401 and no one was within 500 meters of me, I was warning a oncoming vehicle that there was an officer hiding (which is not illegal or I could not find a law against it) it was a police vehicle travelling at very high rate of speed in the opposite direction with no lights on and I flashed my high beams. Happened a 7:15 pm in June and Sunset was at 9:09 pm.

- Prosecutor offered to reduce to Section 170 (12) Impeding Traffic which doesn't even apply to the situation.

(12) Despite the other provisions of this section, no person shall park or stand a vehicle on a highway in such a manner as to interfere with the movement of traffic or the clearing of snow from the highway. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 170 (12).

Questions

1) I have alot of tickets on my record all minor ones 15 km over and failure to have insurance card with me but no majors. Will this effect my case?

2) Am I correct according to the law this can only apply during the 1 half our prior to sunset until 1 half our after sunrise or if conditions were poor which in this case they were not.

3) If this occurred during the daytime hours such as 2 hours prior to sunset would this be an easy case to fight?

4) Should I take the prosecutor's offer or can I get this completely dropped? I am trying to clean my record to lower my insurance rates. This will affect them as I have 4 tickets on my record in the last 3 years.

Interesting, the section does read "when on a highway at any time when lighted lamps are required to be displayed on vehicles" which would seem to indicate it only applies during the required times (one-half hour before sunset to one-half hour after sunrise and at any other time when, due to insufficient light or unfavourable atmospheric conditions, persons and vehicles on the highway are not clearly discernible at a distance of 150 metres or less). I'm not sure if there's any case law on the subject or not.

Is there actually any benefit to you taking the plea deal? A conviction is a conviction so I don't think their offer would actually help with your insurance rates. If not I'd certainly try to fight the ticket on the point you raised.

On a related note, when I took my m2 exit safety course, the MTO certified instructors advised me to use my highbeams during the daytime. Also when I purchased my bike at the dealer, they also advised me the same.

I get it on motorcycles for the extra visibility, but it bugs me when some oblivious motorists drive around with their highbeams on in the middle of the day. Even on bright days highbeams can still be blinding and distracting.

Read this: http://www.wheels.ca/news/warning-of-sp ... tly-legal/

Any conviction, whether you accept the plea deal or get convicted of this original charge, can affect your insurance. Given that you already have several convictions would lead me to belive that any conviction you get, even minor, will definitely affect your rates.

If the original charge says "when on a highway at any time when lighted lamps are required to be displayed on vehicles" then that is one element the prosecutor would have to prove for you to be found guilty.

NEVER tell the prosecution what your defense is. Just tell them, "no I do not want to accept the plea charge and would like a trial". You do not have to tell them why. And DON'T tell them why. As soon as you give away your defense, they may withdraw and re-issue the charge, or come up with the information they need to counter-act your defense. It is best to not reveal your strategy until you start asking the officer questions in cross-examination.

You need to get disclosure (officers notes) before you can be certain this defense would work, because if the officer has something in his notes like "was dark/overcast/cloudy rainy day and visibility was poor" then this could be evidence that your headlights were required. If his notes say nothing about this, and it was daytime hours, then you have a very good chance of beating this ticket.

So I have full disclosure.

There are blackout sections where officers writing is visible. Can they do this.

Confidential information such as other peoples addresses, date of births, etc. are always a vetted out. Information also not pertaining to your traffic stop would also be vetted out. Some officers even vet out the accused personal information, though I think that's overkill.

If the vetted out information is before and after your stop I wouldn't worry at all. If there's a bunch of black lines in the middle of the notes about your stop, hen that might be cause for concern.

If you're concerned, you can scan a copy of your notes and upload them for us to look at. Just be sure to actually vet out your identifying information lol.

Yes they usually black out stuff not related to your incident.