Hand-held Device Charge, Brampton, On, Plea Bargain
I've been meaning to do this for a while. Just wanted to post my experience with a hand-held device charge. I was stopped and charged at a red light in Brampton, ON, for using my cell on speaker phone. It was in my car's console, but the police officer was driving a truck and looked down. I have to admit, I'm not sure if I was on my phone or not at the time, but I did that all the time when talking with my wife so I guess it was my time to pay the piper. Anyways, I went to Brampton court on my court date and spoke with the prosecutor. She asked me if I wanted to fight it or "save some money." She asked me if I had hired a representative and I said no. Having no experience in court and not interested in paying somebody $400 or $500 to represent me, I asked her what my options were. She offered to reduce the charge to "driving in contravention of conditions" which carries zero points and drop the fine to $300 from $490. I took it. The fine actually worked out to $365 with the victim charge, but it was $125 less than I would have paid. I spoke to the officer who ticketed me and he said lots of people fight it, lose and get the full charge, 3 points and the full fine. Well, that was my experience. I have since bought a car with blue tooth.