OHTA.ca

I was driving on a dirt road just off of the highway that takes me to a marina just a little south of Sudbury.

From the moment I entered the road there was a suv towing a trailor in front of me and driving very slow. On this road it is commonplace for people hauling big loads to pull over and let people behind them pass.

After driving behind him for a while he without signal pulled off to the left. This is a 2 lane road where there is only 1 lane for each direction of traffic.

He pulled off to the left (oncomming traffic lane) and came to a complete stop, enough time for me to look at my sister and say I think this guy is letting me pass? And for her to say yes I think so too.

I slowly proceeded forward, since he was in the left lane, I did not have to drive on the shoulder or side of the road. I simply proceeded strait in the lane I was in. As I was almost clear he made a right turn from the left lane and clipped the back left bumper of my car. The whole time I was behind him he did not use any signals. All I could see was his break lights were on. His car had no damage mine looked bad but it was all cosmetic.

It turns out that he was making a right into a difficult to see driveway and because of his big trailor he was making a wide turn.

After the accident we spoke about the situation and he advised me that he was a lawyer and it is probably best for me if I just left and got it fixed without reporting it. I was a little hesitant and even tried calling OPP but had reception problems because the road is in the middle of nowhere. while still trying to figure out what to do he moved his vehicle back up to his cottage and I was left talking to his daughter.

I eventually left without reporting the accident because he said that we shouldnt report it. Much to my dismay I found out after that he called it in and they charged me with failing to report and passing on the right unsafely.

My thoughts are that since I maintained strait in my lane without having to go off to the side and he was making an unsafe turn from the oncomming traffic lane back into my lane without properly checking to see if there was someone there that I did not pass in the right, I just maintained my direction.

In regards to the failure to report, I got an invoice from the auto repair company and the dammage on my vehicle, although looked like a lot was less than 1000.00 after taxes. Does that automatically mean that I did not have to report the accident. Will they drop that charge because you do not have to report an accident under 1000.00 of damage.

Sorry for the long question but I wanted to get as much information as possible to get some advice or a good suggestion.

Thanks in advance.

You may have some good arguments against the Failing to Report charge. If the damage to BOTH vehicles appeared to be under $1000 and there were no injuries, then no police report is necessary. The fact that he told you not to worry about reporting the accident is hard to prove in court, and still doesn't relieve you of your duty to do so. The location of the accident and your inability to contact police aren't really relevant if you had no intention of ever calling them, especially if they've located you several hours after the fact. I don't know if the Crown will simply drop the charge, but if you can provide evidence to show damage appeared to be under $1000 it would help.

As for passing on the right, here's the section.

Passing to right of vehicle

150. (1) The driver of a motor vehicle may overtake and pass to the right of another vehicle only where the movement can be made in safety and,

(a) the vehicle overtaken is making or about to make a left turn or its driver has signalled his or her intention to make a left turn;

(b) is made on a highway with unobstructed pavement of sufficient width for two or more lines of vehicles in each direction; or

(c) is made on a highway designated for the use of one-way traffic only. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 150 (1).

He should have signalled his turn, but it doesn't sound like you met any of the criteria for lawful passing under this section. I don't know what your chances of fighting the charge would be.

I'd consider getting a paralegal to help you though with the Failing to Report charge if it doesn't get dropped. Pretty serious consequences if you're found guilty.

Truthfully, I am not surprised that the guy reported it, after telling you to be on your way and not report. At all. Shaking my head, but not surprised.

You may be able to argue that, based upon the fact that there was no signal, he stopped, and the way was clear, you may argue that the circumstances indicated that you were okay to pass. However, as mentioned above, I would get a paralegal for these charges.

Thanks for the replies. As mentioned it was a huge missunderstanding that completely back fired.

When you say "appeared to be less than 1000 damage" does that mean that it doesn't matter if it is or not but if it appeared to be you have to report it? I ask because it looked like a lot of damage because the bumper was hanging off but it was a plastic bumper and it looked worse than it was.

The other thing is that the guys daughter said that "I would have thought the same thing because you didn't signal" Whether or not she would admit that in court I don't know but I think I am going to try to get her as a wittness to see if she will tell the truth under oath.

In the disclosure they kept saying that "I hit them" which based on their drawings and where I was hit it is basically impossible. They also said they were in the center of the road but based on the width of the road and the width of our two vehicles this is impossible.

Do these discrepencies in their story discredit their statements? Can I use that as an argument that if they are incorrect about parts I can physically prove that the rest of their story could be flawed as well?

any cracked plastic bumper rarely can be repaired and must be replaced usually around $2000 and up

cworth wrote:When you say "appeared to be less than 1000 damage" does that mean that it doesn't matter if it is or not but if it appeared to be you have to report it? I ask because it looked like a lot of damage because the bumper was hanging off but it was a plastic bumper and it looked worse than it was.

At the time of the accident, if the damage appeared quite minor and what a reasonable person would believe to be under $1000, then you would have a defence in court as to why you didn't report it right away. It doesn't sound like this was the case however.

cworth wrote:Do these discrepencies in their story discredit their statements? Can I use that as an argument that if they are incorrect about parts I can physically prove that the rest of their story could be flawed as well?

Possibly. The problem is that you passed illegally on the right, so even if there is some argument about their exact position or if the driver signalled to turn right, you weren't legally in the clear to pass. The arguments you're trying to raise don't really seem to create a relevant defence. If the driver of the other vehicle had signalled to turn left, it would be different. Again though, I'd be much more worried about the fail to report charge then the passing not in safety charge.

when you say very serious consequences for failure to report what do you mean?

On my ticket it says a $110.00 fine?

The officer told me that this isn't a crimal offense but instead a traffic violation.

Is there other things that can happen to me in court?

hwybear wrote:any cracked plastic bumper rarely can be repaired and must be replaced usually around $2000 and up

New (after market) bumper costs arround $300 plus paint. Way below $2000.

cworth wrote:when you say very serious consequences for failure to report what do you mean?

On my ticket it says a $110.00 fine?

The officer told me that this isn't a crimal offense but instead a traffic violation.

Is there other things that can happen to me in court?

No, it's not a criminal offence. It's just a bad charge to have on your driving history, insurance companies really don't like it.