OHTA.ca

I need some advice on this...i was on my way to work during morning rush hour, the roads were very slippery, it was snowing that morning. On approaching the intersection that i had to turn left onto a one way street where i work, I noticed that the light turned amber, feeling that i could not stop safely in time behind the stop line at the intersection and seeing that there was no oncoming traffic, I proceeded into the intersection slowly braking to turn left and when i started to turn the steering wheel left, the car started to skid and in my attempt to control the car i straightened up the steering wheel to the right because at that point i could not continue on my left turn as i assumed that the light had turned to red, i continued straight, knowing that i could not stay in the intersection and that i now had to re route to get to work. Upon driving forward, an officer stopped me. He was parked on the right hand side of that intersection on that one way street. He asked for my licence and said that he has to charge me for running a red light. It is a huge chunk of money and since i felt that I was trying to keep the car from skidding and causing an accident and i did not enter the intersection on a red but continued out of it because i knew i couldnt just stay there after skidding, i felt the charge to be unjust. The officer after giving me the ticket, acknowledged that the road conditions were bad and that I should be more careful even advising me to go to a meeting at the provincial court to discuss the ticket. I have a clean driving record up to this point, this is weighing on me as I am a safe driver...i want to go to trial but i dont know how much it will help..the charge is over 300 dollars with 3 demerit points...please advise

The incident took place in Ottawa in the intersection between Bank street and First avenue.

So I requested disclosure about 3 1/2 weeks ago and my court date is next week and i still havent received it....what do i do next????

Follow up if you're so inclined. If trial comes and they still haven't provided disclosure, and you've made reasonable (i.e. several) attempts to obtain it, then you ask for an adjournment and get the reasons "on the record". Make sure the JP understands that this delay is the crown's fault, not yours (even though you're the one asking for the adjournment). That way, if it comes to an 11(b) situation, the record will be preserved in your favour. Don't expect a stay of the proceedings just because they didn't provide it right away - the system is slow, things take a while sometimes.