OHTA.ca

Hi Everyone,

I just got two tickets, "Disobey Stop Sign and Fail to Surrender Licence".

I was driving casually in a residential area, right after picking up my gf. As I approached the stop sign, i gradually slowed down. I stopped for 1 second and accelerated. As I pulled over, the officer acknowledges that I slowed down, then said I took off. I also forgot my licence at home. This is the first time getting either tickets.

Please advise.

If you are sure that you fully stopped your vehicle for even a microsecond, you could testify to that in court. However, the outcomes generally aren't that great. The best thing for you to do at this point is pick option 3 and arrange for a trial. When you get a trial date, you can file a disclosure request (please see the "Courts and Procedures" section of this website for more). Disclosure is getting information from the Prosecutor's office about what the evidence is against you. In your case, you'll want to request the officer's notes, so you can find out what he saw.

The Prosecutor will probably offer a deal, in that they'll drop one ticket in exchange for a guilty plea to the other. The easier charge for them to prove is the "failure to surrender licence," so they'll probably offer to drop that one in exchange for the stop sign plea. All depends... This will at least get you started with some ideas.