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I received a ticket recently on the highway for going 40km/h over. The cop said his collegue saw me going in and out of lanes (changing lanes from slow to middle to fast and back).

He gave me the ticket going 40 over but said if I plead not guilty he would charge me with Stunt since he still has 6 months to do so (summary offence rule).

Questions:

1. If I plead not guilty but NOT check off the box (I intend to challenge the officer's evidence). Would he still be notified of the plea?

2. Is it usual for cops to carry on with such a threat? this happened 100 kms away from home. Would they go into the trouble of bring the summons over?

3. Could they just mail the summons to my address and consider this proper service of the offence?

4. In the absence of evidence of the officer's threat. I can still file an affidavit stating what he said. Would the court view this as ulteriour motives (i.e., not consonant with the proper administration of justice) if he chooses not to lay a charge and then lay it afterwards due to the status of my plea?

(My point here is that he is a cop not a prosecutor, he should not plea bargain. Also, there is no resolution discussion where he makes decisions to drop some charges in exchange of a guilty plea because the proceedings haven't even started yet).

Any thoughts or isights are welcome and appreciated

comments.. anyone..?

If you plead not guilty, they still have to gather evidence from the officer in order to prove the offence - so yes he'd be notified.

The odds of the officer who allegedly witnessed you weaving in and out of traffic being able to identify you as the driver are not good. He probably saw your licence plate, recorded it, and called it in.

My advice is to get a paralegal or traffic lawyer involved, especially given the fact that the officer did threaten to issue Stunt Driving charges insetad of the 40 km/h over ticket.