“Ticket Lifespan”

My teenager was in an accident last Sept where another car was rear-ended.

It was an accident in every sense...it was the middle of the weekday and the kids were looking for a chip truck in durham region. No speeding or racing, they were distracted trying to find it in an unfamiliar town and swerved/clipped a car making a left turn into a plaza where there was no turning lane or intersection.

We, the parents, got there quick, apologies all around, my kid was obviously upset and at fault.

The officer told us that he had to place a careless driving charge, but told us to challenge it because it was obvious that the kids weren't engaging in anything untoward and didn't deserve that big of a point hit. He was very nice to us and spent a while with my daughter telling her that it was obviously an accident and that accidents happen. He was very reassuring and seemed pleased that we were all there and the kids were remorseful and accepting responsibility. He also insinuated that the person who was rear-ended was fine medically but was putting on a show.

I went to the courts within the week to arrange for a meeting with the prosecutor. At that time they hadn't received the officers version of the ticket, so my request was filed and they told me that they would call when the ticket arrived. I didn't hear anything so I followed up a month later and the office still hadn't received anything.

Next week will be the 1 year anniversary of the accident and I have not heard anything. I suspect the officer applied a little street justice and chose not to submit the ticket, but will never know for sure. Is there a best before date for these things? It is something I would like concluded so this can be put behind us.

Thanks for your help!

Seems like a long time to have not been given any kind of notice so far. It's possible I suppose that your request was improperly filed at the court and your daughter was found guilty for not disputing the charges within 15 days (unlikely but it could happen). In which case because you obviously didn't pay the fine her license would currently be suspended. On the off chance that this happened I would say call up/go into an MTO office and check the status of her license. If the license is in good standing then I personally wouldn't worry about it and just leave it be unless you happen to hear something from the court. The reason I say this rather than contacting the court is maybe you got lucky and the court just forgot about you in which case you're basically off the hook so there's no sense reminding them that you're out there.

If your daughter was found guilty based on an error on the courts behalf I would assume you would have no problem appealing that and having the case reopened.

If however it's just taking them an extremely long time to schedule a trial then there are a few options you have. Since you haven't received a Notice of Trial yet chances are the trial if scheduled would be months down the road. If this is the case you can apply for a stay (no verdict is found and the trial stops) on the grounds for unreasonable delay. You should also file for disclosure to see the crown's evidence against your daughter. The whole process for applying for a stay and requesting disclosure can be found at http://www.ticketcombat.com/ this site goes into a fair bit more detail and is a good resource when it comes to fighting traffic tickets. I should also add that since this is a careless driving charge you may want to consider hiring a paralegal to represent your daughter as it is a major offense in the eyes of an insurance company and will see definite increases in insurance rates.

I'm willing to bet the cop felt so bad for your daughter he "accidentally" forgot to file the ticket with the court within the required 15 days

There are some thoughtful, sensitive cops out there after all.

Bookm wrote:I'm willing to bet the cop felt so bad for your daughter he "accidentally" forgot to file the ticket with the court within the required 15 days

There are some thoughtful, sensitive cops out there after all.

7 days

Know-it-all!

Ya, I was thinking about the 15 days WE have to file our plea.