OHTA.ca

Hello,

Yesterday I ticketed with Left Turn - Fail To Afford Reasonable Opportunity To Avoid Collision. I was waiting to make a left turn and held off until the light turned red since I was unsure if oncoming traffic was going to stop. Once I was sure I proceeded to make my turn. At this point the vehicles in the left and middle lane had come to a full stop. The vehicle in the right lane was slowing down but had not reached the intersection as yet. It looked like he was going to stop since he was slowing down and the light was red already so I proceeded with my turn. Unfortunately for me he did not stop and proceeded to run a very late red light hitting me in the process.

The officer comes on the scene, sees I made the left and deems me at fault. He explained to me in these types of collisions they almost always charge the person making the left and since no witnesses stayed behind he was going to do it in this case as well.

As a young driver(23 seems to still be considered young) in Brampton my insurance premiums are already high enough(even though I have been driving since 16). Up until this point I have had a clean record. No tickets or collisions. I really do not need this incident in which I feel like I should not have been ticketed to raise those premiums even higher.

Looking at the ticket it seems my 2 options are to do an early resolution or take it to trial. What is my best option here? My main goal is to avoid an increase in my premiums. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

I was in a similar situation 13 years ago, except I was the "other guy." The light had just turned yellow and I was too close to stop. I was going 55 in a 50 and was, maybe, five metres short of the intersection. The guy started his turn anyway and I T-boned him. He confirmed to the police officer who arrived that the light had been yellow when I hit him. I don't know if he was charged (his car was totalled, he was already in the facility market and his passenger was taken away in an ambulance, so the officer may have had some sympathy for him). Fortunately, I hit the right rear door, not the right front door.

The officer told me that if the light had been red, he'd have had to charge me and I would have been at fault. He said, from his perspective, I had done nothing wrong, but it was up to the insurance companies to sort out fault (his company accepted responsibility).

Based on that experience, he should have been charged with running a red light. I would say you did afford reasonable opportunity to avoid a collision. You prudently let traffic clear the intersection. The light had turned red, so you reasonably expected the oncoming driver, who was already slowing down, to stop.