OHTA.ca

i was driving my dads bmw m3, im 17 and i have a g2 license.

Last night at 3am i was on the 401 doing about 120 but there were lots of trucks in the middle lane so i changed lanes and hit the gas hard to pass in front of the trucks. Cop was right there and he clocked me doing 147. As soon as i saw the flashing lights i pulled over to the left curb immediately. When i stopped, i was as far left i could go and the cop yells

" move your f**king car to the left". Even though it was the most left it could go with leaving enough space for the officer to walk up to the window.

After the cop gets out of the car, My front window was already down. He then approaches the car and hits the back window with something which made a rather loud noise. ( i was very nervous, first ticket). Like why would he hit the back window with something, scared me.

The officer tells me that i did not stop appropriately and i will be getting a ticket for failing to stop for an emergency vehicle, even though i stopped right away and pulled over.

The officer talks to me very rudely rudely to me, i did not expect officers to be so rude. He was saying stuff like "who owns this car, oh its your daddys car i wish i had a bmw when i was 17. You didnt notice you were going that fast huh? speedometer not working there buddy?" I didnt talk back as that would have just caused more problems.

So officer asks for my license and ownership, gave it to him. Walks back to his car, he takes a good 20-30 minutes writing the ticket up. He tells me that he's not going to charge me for speeding but he will charge me for failing to stop for an emergency vehicle. He gives me a 490$ ticket and 4 demerit points.

Okay so i told my parents about it and they said they will hire a lawyer and fight this ticket, because they do not want insurance to increase as it is already a lot.

Will my license get suspended? i read somewhere that if you have a g2 and get 4 demerit points thats a 30 day suspension?

If i fight the ticket, will my license remain valid until the court date?

Also my friend was in the car, does it say in the police notes who was in the car etc? i don't want my parents to know i was driving anyone because they are very strict about me driving my friends around.

The officer did not charge me for speeding so does that mean that it will not show up in their notes?( doesnt say anything about speeding on the ticket) i have not told my parents i was driving 47 over. The officer only charged me for failing to stop for an emergency vehicle.

Thanks

Also, on the ticket the officer took my birthdate down wrong.

Your licence remains valid until you get convicted - then you may or may not be suspended. You don't get any demerit points until you are convicted.

The officer's notes may or may not have anything in there about passengers.

If the officer stopped you for speeding it will almost certainly be in his notes.

This sounds like a good charge to fight - both because it carries a hefty penalty and because you may have a defence if, in fact, you stopped as soon as practicable.

thanks, hopefully i can get the fine reduced and would it say in the notes the speed he stopped me at? or just stopped for speeding?

hopefully i can get the fine reduced and demerit points reduced so my license doesnt get suspended.

I don't know what his notes will say, but I would assume they will say the speed. Also, be advised that you cannot ask for the demerit points to be reduced. They are automatically assigned based on whatever speed your are convicted of or plea to.

Let the lawyer take care of it. The lawyer might tell you the passenger would make a good witness and help in your defense.

BTW, I ALSO wish I had an M3 when I was 17. In fact, at 47, I STILL wish I could afford one

If it is only 2 lane (each direction) on the 401 you must stop on the right shoulder, just an FYI

it was 3 lane, but i guess it would have been better to pull over on the right, bad decision on my part. Also the left side had enough room to pull over at.

i heard that if you meet with the prosecutor before they will offer you a plea deal with a lesser fine and demerit points?

also if i fight this ticket, since the officer did not give me a ticket for speeding, even though thats the reason he stopped me for, would they still be able to give me a ticket for that?

For me it sounds strange that the police didn't want to charge you for speeding, but for failing to stop for an emergency vehicle.

I was in very similar situation, they caught me with 149km/h in a 100 zone driving to Ottawa. I also wanted to pass a few cars. They gave me a ticket for speeding with a set fine amount of $294 and total payable $359. Not sure how that was calculated, but seems to be lower than yours. I have a G full license, not sure if that matters. I hired a lawyer and already had the court date. They reduced the fine to a speeding rate of 125km/h in a 100 zone and reduced the demerit points from 4 to 3. Now the fine is $112.5 + $25 (victim surcharge - not sure what is that for) + $5 administration fee = $142.5. Not that much, but I already paid the lawyer around $400 so finally it comes out more than originally and I still have demerit points. So I am not sure if it was worth to hire the lawyer, because probably the insurance will go up and maybe with the same amount.

nstefi wrote:So I am not sure if it was worth to hire the lawyer, because probably the insurance will go up and maybe with the same amount.

Your insurance probably will go up, but I do not think for a second that your insurance will go up as much as if you got hit with 49 over. Most insurance companies consider this to be a major conviction. Some companies say 30 km/h or more over the limit is "major," others say 45 or more is "major." Very few say 50 or more. You may get an increase of a few hundred dollars per year, but I can almost promise you that if the 49-over stuck, your insurance increase would have been $1000+ per year. It was probably cheaper to hire the lawyer.