OHTA.ca

I got pulled over a little while after safely merging onto McCowan Rd from Consillium Pl close to 3AM on March 7th Thursday-night/March 8th Friday-morning, when there was no one else on the road. I'm pretty sure that I did nothing wrong and that the officer was trolling for anything. The officer told me that I had ran a stop sign. I told him that I never saw any stop sign; although, being 3AM and that I was made to wait almost half an hour before he asked me, would you remember exactly what you did after waiting that long? I might've seen it and stopped. Again, it was 3AM and I needed to get home to Barrie - I originally thought he was just an EMS passing by until he stopped behind me. Next time I was in the area I went to look at that 'stop' during dusk time, I found that there are two signs, both very small, very high above eye level, neither reflective or lit - I didn't take a picture because I was afraid he'd pop out again and charge me for something else.

On top of that the officer kept asking me, "Have you been drinking?", "Are you drunk?!", to which I had NOT been drinking that night since I knew I would be driving. He asked that general question three or four times, but did not 'breathalise' me. Which is when I began believing that this officer was just trolling me in hopes to slap me with a DUI. Who else would he expect to pull over at 3AM. It was probably a slow night for him and he needed to do something.

I've been a good, defensive driver ever since I received my license. I cannot accept that this is just a slip-up on my part.

Stop signs have to be a certain size and height from the ground. I highly doubt at this location the stop sign falls out of this. As for seeing if you have been drinking and driving, people so lie. The failing to stop at the stop sign is the first thing he notices. Asking over and over again may cause someone to either admit to that "one" drink or the conversation will let the officer detect that odour of alcohol. Yes the officer may have been "trolling" for impaired drivers but that is his job and one less on the road makes the road that much safer.

At the heart of the matter you are saying a cop saw you miss 2 stop signs at the same intersection and you expect a JP to believe they weren't visible. (They'll tell you traffic lights are also above eye level). The only defense is going to be that you clearly remember that you did make a full and complete stop. Something tells me you are going to need a new strategy such as an 11b or cop not show up for trial or fatal error or plead guilty to a lesser charge. File for a trial and see what disclosure says.