OHTA.ca

So I was caught going 75km in a 50km bridge zone. I was totally not thinking as I drive this route every day and know there's a speed trap just over the bridge. I was pulling out of a mall heading north and wanted to beat oncoming traffic. As I was pulling out I sped up to make a 3 lane change (the far left lane as I needed to make a left hand turn right after the bridge) When I reached the top of the bridge and saw the officer pointing her radar gun towards me I tried to slow down as much as possible but there was traffic behind me and I didn't want to cause an accident. She told me she originally caught me doing 75 but I slowed down to 70 right when I saw her. I was supposed to get a $100 fine with 3 demerit points but she saw it was my first offense (my U-turn ticket must have JUST got erased from her system) and only gave me a 65km in a 50km zone, no demerit points and just a fine of $52.50.

At first I was going to just plead guilty but after doing my homework and reading all these amazing sites such as this one I was amazed that EVERYTHING stays on your insurance's history. (If I had known that I would have fought my stupid U-turn from way back.)

What should I do?!?!?

I was thinking that I should plead for a Stay, is there any advice if I take this route?

- I will be going back to file for a disclosure (I was too busy before)

- since I was going down hill the radar gun would have worked in my advantage so the most I can hope for is ... improper calibrating..?

Also,

1) The ticket does not say reduced... so when I fight this in court there's no way she will amend the ticket and bring it back to 75km right?

2) Should I call the officer and sit-down and talk to her?

- explain that I only sped up to get in the left hand turn to make the left after and I totally missed the 50km sign? and once I got to the left lane I did slow down but thought I was in a 60km zone?

- explain to her that I'm just finishing up university and I'm in no shape to deal with an increase in insurance fees

3) Play the racism card? (The officer was white)

The area that I was caught in has many terrible asian drivers. I'm 99% sure that when I got to the top of the bridge there was at least 1 other car beside me so the officer decided to grab me instead of the other (but I was closest to her)

- I've heard of the racism card being used before but these individuals had lawyers to find out about the officers' arrest history.

*a very last resort as the officer was pretty nice to me*

4) lastly, the officer's car was facing north away from what she was looking at... is this normal in case they get run over by traffic coming the other way? Can I use this to my advantage?!?!?

Cheers,

LJ

The very 1-st thing to do in any case is to plead "not guilty". Once you do that, then you can file for disclosure. Once you see the disclosure, you can see what evidence they have against you.

If you decide to change your mind and plead guilty, you can always do that later.

1) the offence could be put back up to original speed

2) Do not call the officer, it is now in the hands of the prosecutor/courts

3) that is the lowest of all lows

4) direction of cruiser does not matter

Le Joker wrote:At first I was going to just plead guilty but after doing my homework and reading all these amazing sites such as this one I was amazed that EVERYTHING stays on your insurance's history.

It will stay on your record for three years, it's not permanent. Was your U-turn ticket from 3 years ago or more? Also, some insurance companies will forgive a couple of 15 km/h-over tickets with no increase (mine does, I know from experience), others treat it as "a ticket is a ticket, they all count." If your U-turn ticket didn't result in an increase, chances are the 15 km/h over ticket wouldn't either, if the U-turn ticket is off your insurance record.

hwybear mentions that they can amend to the original speed; this is because a recent decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal said that a reduced ticket could be amended to the original speed as noted by the officer. This is something to think about. If your insurer treats all "minor" (less than 50 over) tickets the same, the only difference is if they amend it to 25 over, you pay a higher fine. HOWEVER, if your insurer forgives a 15-over ticket, fighting it could not only result in a higher fine, but ALSO higher insurance premiums to boot! I'd suggest doing some careful investigation here. Another option is talking to the Prosecutor about your circumstances as a student and you'd like to negotiate. That said...

Le Joker wrote:Play the racism card? (The officer was white)

You have got to be kidding me, right? Try standing at the roadside and identifying the ethnic background of a driver from a distance of 200-400 metres. I'd be willing to bet that you can't.

Radar Identified wrote:

Le Joker wrote:Play the racism card? (The officer was white)

You have got to be kidding me, right? Try standing at the roadside and identifying the ethnic background of a driver from a distance of 200-400 metres. I'd be willing to bet that you can't.

Exactly! With the varying window tints, angle of windows, vehicle interior colour, lighting, it is even hard to tell who the driver is even when someone is parked 20m across the road at a stop sign. On occassion I can not even tell whether the driver is male or female when parked beside me, just a silhoutte of a person.

I agree that it's hard to tell who driver is from a distance, but if you profile the area, for example if you set up a trap in Toronto china town then 99.99% the car you wave in will be an asian driver.

But toronto police are more sensitive with ethnic issues these days, I saw asian cops settting up traps in asian communities.

As you know the ticket the officer gave you doesnt have any demerit points on it, but if you pay the ticket it will go on your driving record for three years to which your insurance company has access to and can base your rates upon.

The insurance company only sees that you were convicted of a speeding ticket. They dont care whether you lost/gained any demerit points or not, its the Ministry of Transportation that looks at demerit points, not your insurance company. Your insurance company looks at convictions, and then what are the convictions e.g minor speeding tickets and major convictions like Careless Driving.

When the officer drops the ticket to under 15km they want you to pay the ticket.

The officer believes that most people seeing that there are no demerit points on the ticket will just pay the fine and not fight it. Usually the officer is either inexperienced or they dont like going to court, but its usually a sign of an inexperienced police officer.

If you fight this ticket yourself in the Toronto area you have a 25% chance of it going away, if you hire someone who knows the right things to say and how to run a speeding trial your odds of winning go up dramatically.

If you try to play the "race" card, which is really tacky in todays day and age the Justice will say that the venue to complain about the officer is with the police management, and NOT with the court. The court will not consider this issue.