OHTA.ca

Hi,

First time hear and I've read a ton of the forums on here and appreciate the amount of advice everybody is giving.

I was pulled over for going 149km/h (I felt regretful and idiotic, of course.) near ottawa and the OPP reduced it to 129km/h. This is my first speeding ticket and I was on the way back to Toronto from Montreal. Happened around midnight and I don't think there were any other cars around me. The OPP was very kind in not towing my car away. (I think he clocked me at 150 on the empty highway but wrote down 149.) I'm a G2 driver that's been driving for a little bit over a year. Still a student. I'm 21 and i'm worried about my insurance increasing to an unreasonable rate from 1 minor conviction.

I received the ticket middle of august and I filed for option 3 and received my notice of trial on September 7-8th. I requested disclosure via. email and asked when I'll receive it but they said that it depends on the enforcement agency and the officer. From what I've read on this forum, disclosures take about 7-8 weeks, but my trial will come by then.

I had a couple questions:

1. My notice of trial date is the end of October which is surprisingly quick for a trial and I'm not sure if disclosure will be sent out within reasonable time for me to make a defense for it. Do I file for a stay 15 days before the trial date or tell them on the day of that I did not receive the disclosure and want to postpone the trial to another date.

2. Do I have to file more than once to prove that I was really trying to get my disclosure before trial date or is requesting it once enough? (They confirmed that they received it already.)

3. Some paralegals suggest I take the reduced price and go because I was lucky the officer reduced it that much. Anyone under 25 with one minor conviction know how much insurance went up for them? I can't seem to find much about this in any forum. I know it's different for every insurance company but if you've gotten one conviction as a driver under 25 with a G license, please let me know!

1. If it is the first trial, then filling for a stay is a waste of time. They will simply reschedule a new trial date and tell prosecutor to get it to you before then.

2. You just need to make notes of date/time you called or emailed in to check if it was ready. They have no obligtion to tell you it is ready. It is up to you to keep checking.

3. 49 over is 4 demrit points and 29 over is 3 demerit points and 15 over is 0 demerit points, but they are all considered a MINOR by insurance, so demerits do not matter as they can all affect your insurance the same.

You can just call your insurance company and ask them... how would a speeding 29 over affect my rates? what about a speeding 49 over?

And just a note that if you take it to trial and LOSE, they will amend the charge back up to the highest speed the officer has noted in his notes. So if his notes say 150 in 100 and you then lose in court, then you are charged with the 50 over which is probably a MAJOR or even worse a SERIOUS for insurance purposes and you do not want that. So you need to get officers notes and see what they say before you decide whether to actually take it to trial or not. If the officer notes only show the 149 as the highest speed, then it might be worth fighting. But let me point out that if you have no experience in court there is a high probability you will lose, so keep that in mind.

jsherk wrote:1. If it is the first trial, then filling for a stay is a waste of time. They will simply reschedule a new trial date and tell prosecutor to get it to you before then.

Thanks for the advice. To confirm, I could just ask for reschedule on the day of the first attendance due to the fact that I didn't get my disclosure yet?

Yes. You can also ask to reschedule if they gave you disclosure, but it was within less than two weeks of the trial date as this does not give you enough time to prepare.

Just a reminder that if you decide to fight the ticket and are convicted after trial, you will be convicted on 49 over which carries 4 points as they will amend the speed back to the original. Once MTO receives the conviction, your driver's licence will be suspended for a period of 30 days (assuming it's a first offence) due to novice driver escalating sanctions as you're a G2 driver.