OHTA.ca

good evening everyone, i am looking for some advice as i have a early resolution meeting with the procesutor coming up in 2 days and wondering if anyone can give any advice.

Ill try and give the best run down i can for what happened, I was travelling down the main street of my city and about 1/2 a block from the left turn i take onto my street , an ambulance was heading west with its signals and sirens going, i yeilded right of way by pulling over, after the ambulance had passed, i signaled, merged back into my lane and proceeded east to my street. I have to make a left turn onto my street to get to my house. While sitting at the light in the left lane, my signal was on to turn left, i was waiting for westbound traffic to pass so i could get an opening to turn, at that time i heard sirens, checked all my mirrors but did not see anything. Just on the other side of the intersection a police car was conducting a traffic stop, cars that were in the far right lane were merging to the center lane to eild to the police officer, the police car had the lights were on but i could not say for certain the sirens were. At this time traffic in the westbound lane had cleared and i proceeded to make my left hand turn, just at that time, i saw a flash of white paint, tried to avoid my punching the brakes but lightly sideswipped a supervisor EMS truck, one of the big ford expeditions, there was moderate damage to my vehicle but very little damage to the EMS unit. What had happened was the EMS truck was coming down the street heading eastbound, same direction i was going, it came up behind my girlfriends minivan who was sitting directly behind me at the time waiting to turn left as well ( i have a regular 4 door sedan) at the last minute the EMS truck swerved around my grilfriends van almost taking the back bumper off, it flew into the westbound lanes to go through the intersection where at this point the vehicles colided. My girlfriend she the EMS was doing the 60kph speed limit at least and didnt even touch the brakes approching the intersection until my car was in front of the SUV.

The officer that was conducting the traffic stop came to investigate the accident afterwards and write the report. I was charged with failure to stop/yield for an emergency vehicle. Now at the time i was stopped but preparing to turn left during a green light. When i checked my rear view mirrors i did not see any vehicles or lights. Between the Police car, the ambulance that had passed me before the accident and the EMS truck, it was a few minutes of constant sirens.

What i am wondering is does the procesuctor have the abilty to throw away the charges entirley if he/she deems so?? even before a actual court date with a judge, everyone i have talked to said i followed all the driving rules and it was a case of wrong place at wrong time and a freak accident occurred which left me with the charge. The police officer was a very nice and understanding guy and he said that he recommended i choose to fight the charge as he said he had to charge somebody and unfortantley it had to be me because he could not charge the emergency vehicle.

It was a very confusing couple minutes and it happened so fast, i was in light shock but turned down medical care when offered by the police.

I have a spotless driving record and i am really hoping i can keep it that way.

I am just very worried (actually terrified) about my situation and hoping somebody can shine some light onto what my options really are

Thank you in advance

Based on your description of what happened, I think you might have a reasonable defence. The officer certainly could have charged the EMS driver if they were at fault, or simply laid no charge at all.

Id request disclosure, specifically the statements of the EMS driver and any other witnesses. Your main argument will probably be that you made reasonable efforts to ensure you were turning safely and that the EMS vehicle simply wasnt readily visible.

The Crown can withdraw the charge if they feel the evidence doesnt support the charge. Obviously see what they say at your first attendance meeting today.