OHTA.ca

Hi,

My co-worker just got a ticket last month or so for speeding around 20km to 25 km over the limit in Vaughan, Ontario.

Apparently he was driving down Rutherford road and he said there's an area where the speed limit drops from 70km to 60km.

The officer was slightly behind the 60km sign and tagged him for speeding before he even entered the 60km zone.

He thinks it's unfair that the officer issued him a ticket for speeding considering he hasn't even passed the 60km sign which should mean he hasn't

entered the 60km zone yet.

He did tell the officer and the officer agreed to reduce his ticket to 10km over the limit and gave him a $40 fine.

I'm trying to help him out and give him some advice (this is his first ticket)...

But i'm not sure of a few things:

Is there any point in him fighting this ticket in court?

Wouldn't the officer say "Buddy, I did you a favour"???

He applied for a court date and it's only 9 months away so 11B is out of the question..

I also don't think there's any demerit points for this ticket...atleast I don't see it posted anywhere from mto's website

However, I told him it's always good to stop ANY moving violation from being on your record because insurance companies still add "risk points"

Which are pretty much like Demerit points...and after a certain amount of "risk points"...the insurance company may drop you as a client..

Lastly, is there any point in fighting a REDUCED ticket?...

I told him to show up in court and ask if he can plea guilty to a non-moving violation...perhaps a parking ticket...

that way he still pays the fine and everybody's happy....

Any suggestions?

The risk in fighting a reduced speeding ticket is that the Prosecutor can have the speed amended back to the original (20 over). HOWEVER, if he had not passed the 60 km/h sign and was still in a 70 zone and was doing 80... then the ticket wasn't reduced but reflected the original speed. Th ekey thing is where the speeding offence was noted. It is very unlikely that the Prosecutor would offer a parking ticket or bylaw infraction in this case, even though the charge was 10 over.