OHTA.ca

Today, I was stopped by Ottawa Police for speeding and I've just noticed that the speed written on the ticket is not the speed that the officer recorded on his radar/laser.

The officer came to my window and right away pointed to the sign that says the limit was "60Km/h". He even had his radar/laser gun in hand and showed me that it displayed a big "90". He said to me "what were you thinking, you were going 90 in a 60"

I'm looking at my ticket right now and it says:

"SPEEDING - 98 KPH IN A 60 KPH ZONE."

Set fine of $228

Total payable: $283

I am 100% sure the radar/laser gun he showed me said 90. No doubt about it. I see online that the set fine is supposed to be $6/km over the speed limit and so both the fine and description of my offence is wrong since I was not caught at 98KPH.

I've been reading online and would like to know if this is considered a "fatal error" and how best to proceed with fighting this?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Not at all. He could have gotten several readings.

The flip side could be that the 8 could be mistaken for a 0 and the other way around.

It is not a fatal error.

Don't think it fatal but could be used to shed doubt on officer's side of the story if it came to trial and presented along with other arguments. By itself however it is unlikely to sway the JP. If you strongly feel that the ticket wasn't justified you might go on a limb and try to fight it in court but you'd need more than just his word vs what he wrote. He might deny it outright that he said 90 or even if he admitted it, he might say he was generalizing while talking to you and the ticket had the actual speed. The only way to know for sure if there is anything you can use in your defence is to ask for disclosure. One thing I saw consistently in Peel region is that every single person who came to court to fight a ticket was offered a reduced charge by the prosecution prior to trial. If you have the time to spare to attend the court for that but not for the trial itself that might be an option. If you go that route there is also a chance the officer won't show up and charge dismissed. The only thing that will cost you is a couple of hours in court.