“Accused Of Driving On Suspended License, Yet It Was Not Suspended For 3 More Weeks”

I am going to court with my father, who was in a small accident, for the first time in 40 years, and the officers wanted him to do all the written test, driving test and medical tests, probably due to his age. He was in the process of this, and had been given 60 days to do this. There was 3 weeks left of the 60 days, and he was pulled over for driving with a suspended license. It was not. He paid a $400 towing charge, and has not been able to drive for these 3 weeks. We go to court in about 40 hours. My brother has been handling this ( but wasn't) , and is going to Florida instead. So I just read, that in the Ontario courts, we have to write to present evidence 15 days ahead of time. We also are supposed to be able to see the officers comments, wondering where we could get these comments at this late date? thanks for you last minute help. I have to learn and put this together very quickly.

Although I'm no expert, it's quite possible in Ontario that --when you are involved in any accident and the attending officer flags you for a retest-- your D/L automatically gets suspended, and reinstated only once you've met all the conditions.

By-far the most inconvenient and time-consuming among the retest conditions is having to be seen/assessed by a Healthcare professional who has been qualified by MTO to vouch for patients on such matters. Medical Doctors ("MD's") can obviously do this however they are allowed to and may elect to, send your Dad to a clinic where he will be seen/assessed by, a licensed Occupational Therapist ("OT"). The latter have special training in cognitive & other basic skills which people --of ANY age-- are deemed to require, in order to competently do and accomplish certain daily and routine activities (such as driving). My wife happens to be an OT so you can trust me on this.

My hunch is that your only ace in the hole is to plead ignorance to the J.P. in traffic court, based on your Dad not having been clearly informed of the situation. The attending officer should have been well-aware that s'one like your Dad would/could still be in a somewhat shock'ish state even well-after the actual event- and thus should have taken steps to make absolutely sure your Dad understood what was happening. The tip-off here might have been that --if your Dad's vehicle was still driveable-- the officer ordered a tow truck anyway, given the absence of another licensed driver who could take-over. I'm not sure if the officer is required to give drivers the option of calling for their own tow, or required to allow on-the-spot suspended drivers to summon another licensed driver for assistance. If it is officer's discretion to do so, then this person was either busy and/or just choosing to be lazy.

Cheers

Left_Turners_are_Toast

I've learned more about this situation, and you were sort. of correct, in. a number of ways.