“Fail To Stop - Amber Light Section 144(15)”

Hello Everyone,

I got my 2nd ticket in 12 years and last one was in November 2018 in DC where I was traveling for work and made an illegal U-turn (unknowingly). Yesterday, I was pulled over in York region for crossing the lights while they were yellow and as far as I remember, the light did NOT turn red at any point while I crossed the intersection. There were no accidents, damages, injuries or anything. Cop was behind me and I honestly thought I would not be able to stop before the stop line, hence I crossed the intersection. I am going to fight this in court (my first time ever going to any court) and have requested a trail.

However, what I am not sure is if I should represent myself or have a paralegal represent myself. I say this because few lawyers and paralegals I have called in the GTA area tell me that there is almost no chance I will be able to successfully fight this if I am representing myself and there is a good chance they can successfully fight it since the law for this section (section 144(15)) states that I should make judgement call on whether or not I can stop in time.

What makes me wonder, if they make it sound so simple for them, with a little bit of legwork, shall I represent myself or are they actually right that the chances of them dismissed in court are substantially higher than me self representing.

Other details:

I do not drive to work or my work does not require me to drive. I work from home most of the time and I have time to do this myself. Also, I did not accelerate or increase my speed at any point.

TLDR: Shall I represent myself for a moving traffic violation or shall I hire a paralegal/lawyer?

Thank you

It will boil down to whether the JP accepts your testimony that you would have been unable to stop safely or the officer's testimony that you could have stopped. You'd have to say how close to the intersection you were, how quickly you were driving, how long it would have taken to stop, how hard you would have had to brake, etc.