OHTA.ca

This morning I was nearly in an accident with an OPP cruiser. Looking for advice on what steps to take. I was charged with "fail to yield from private drive" 139(1) and assessed a $110 fine. The officer was not able to tell me if there would be any demerit points. Is there any way I can find that out, or is 3 points standard for this offence as the title on this forum suggests?

The situation: I was exiting a Tim Hortons drive thru. I had a clear view of the right and there was no traffic approaching. From the left there were two vehicles approaching, both with their turn signals on to enter the Tim Hortons. I didn't believe there was enough space for the first vehicle to enter the parking lot as it was a truck so I decided to make the left hand turn as I believed the road to be clear. From the left there is a second lane that the truck entering the parking lot obscured my view of. I thought I had been sufficiently cautious and that there was no oncoming traffic, but as I made the turn there was a vehicle approaching that I did not see. Fortunately he did have enough time to brake as I turned and we avoided a collision. Unfortunately he was an OPP officer and immediately turned on his lights and pulled me over.

Looking for advice on what to do. I understand if I have to pay a fine given the situation. It was an honest mistake - I know that doesn't make it right, but I don't think points are warranted given that I had not wrecklessly attempted the turn and there was no collision. The officer did tell me that I had the right to contest the ticket in court, but then stated that because he was driving the vehicle he was a "pretty good witness". When I asked the officer if there were any points associated with the ticket, he said since it's a moving violation there's "no doubt that there's probably some points" but didn't tell me how many. He then crossed his fingers and said "it could have been worse."

Thoughts? After the officer returned to his cruiser with my license/registration I turned on the video capture on my iphone and set it up to record - so I have a good record of what was said to me when he returned with my ticket (not that it makes any difference, though)

3 points. They are non-negotiable. If convicted of the offence, the MTO will assess the points against your licence. If you don't want the points you can either try to plea to a different (amended) offence that carries no (or fewer) points, or fight the charge and go for an acquittal.

Thanks for the response, Simon. That's what I've gathered from doing some additional reading.

Any advice on what I should do to eliminate the points? I have a "10km over the limit" speeding ticket on my record from about 4 years ago, but my driving record is otherwise clean. I would like to challenge the ticket to at least waive the points and pay a minor fine if necissary, I'm just not sure if I have much of a case to stand behind given the situation.

What do you mean by "eliminate the points"? As I said, the points can not be eliminated or waived.

Also, a charge of 10km over carries no points.

Sorry, I guess I could have been more clear in my question.

Is there a specific approach you'd suggest as part of challenging this in court? I'm not sure what plea would make the most sense given my situation. Is there a tact that I could take in being aquitted of the charge in general? Given how the officer was involved in the situation (he nearly hit me, rather than observing someone nearly hit me) I don't know if that makes the task of challenging the ticket easier or more difficult.

My desire is to keep my driving record as clean as possible. If I were to stand a good chance of getting it thrown out I would likely take that approach. If not, I would try to plea to a lesser offence.