OHTA.ca

I've been reading around the forums, and first, I just want to say a big thank you to the community. I've occasionally posted on RedFlagDeals with regards to my case, and have perused ticketcombat.com, but the advice and opinions here seem great.

For brevity sake, I'll try to be as brief and concise as I can:

At around 4am in light rain conditions, I was pulled over at a popular intersection on the grounds that I was driving carelessly. The officer had asked me if I had drank, and I had admitted to him that I did. He asked me how many drinks I had, and perhaps unwisely, told him I had 1 beer, and 2 shooters. I proceeded to take the breathalyser test, but had stalled a bit so I could understand my rights as it was the first I had ever taken a test, or have been pulled over for such a serious offence. After a bit of exchanges, I proceeded to take the test and had blew into the warning range of the breathalyser. I explicitly remember him telling me that I didn't pass, nor did I fail.. At that point, I was as confused as I could be, however, I now understand that I was within the legal BAC "warn range."

So he gives me a 1-day suspension for my licence — although all official documentation (such as MTO's page for Impaired Driving Information) seems to explicitly say it should have been a 3-day suspension. He did say he was giving me a warning and suspending me for 1-day, but is that even permitted? The MTO page is a bit mucky as the the First Time Offence heading says it is explicitly a 3-day suspension, while there is also a paragraph that touches on the topic saying that "police can immediately suspend your licence up to three days for a first occurrence." A tad confused here, since I've never seen references or people making mention of a 1-day suspension on forums and such.

Going back to the careless driving charge; there's really not much more I could say about it. I have a court date set for the 14th of January but have not received disclosure documents. I sent the disclosure request on the 23rd of November, and have yet to receive anything in the mail. Under the advice of ticketcombat.com, I did not leave a phone number on my disclosure request, but did provide my full address. I have also called in twice, once in early December and another time on the 10th of January just to confirm that I did in fact deliver the request to the correct address. I will make a second disclosure request, and this time, will use registered mail for the request.

At this point, I don't really know all that much about the case and the officer notes, so I cannot provide more details of the incident and exactly why I was charged for careless driving except for the fact that I was probably speeding. I do know from the officer at the police station, that the office who had stopped me did not use a radar gun and was merely judging my speed from judgment according to his speedometer.

I hope my case gets adjourned, and if so, I think this time I may get some advice from paralegals or just go all out with professional counsel and let them represent me.

Any tips, comments, etc. is truly appreciated.

There is some provisions for a 24hr suspension. That is for a novice driver who blows between 0-49mgs or a Young Driver who blows 10-49mgs range.

But wouldn't that mean that I'm not within the warn range, as the warn range is between 0.05 and 0.08?

Fully licenced drivers

0-49mgs = ok to drive

50-99mgs = Warn = 3 day suspension

100mgs = Fail = Arrest

***************************

Novice drivers (g1/G2/m1/m2)

0-49mgs = 24hr suspension

50-99mgs = Warn = 3 day suspension

100mgs = Fail = Arrest

****************************

Young Driver (Under 22yrs old)

10-49mgs = 24hr suspension

50-99mgs = Warn = 3 day suspension

100mgs = Fail = Arrest

I don't fit the description of any of those, as I'm a fully licensed driver that was 24 at the time.. Does this make the 1-day suspension unusual?

I've attached the offence notice for the 24-hour suspension. Is there anything wrong with this? It seems especially unusual, especially given the details that the previous poster detailed regarding roadside suspensions.

I don't have an answer.....stumped

Would I be able to get this suspension dismissed on any grounds?

Suspension's already over so you can't get it "dismissed." I have no idea what part of the HTA, CAIA or what was used. It is definitely weird. But perhaps you could mention it when going to court. Might've been a 3-day suspension that the officer mistakenly "reduced" to 24 hours. As for the careless driving charge, I'd suggest hiring a paralegal... although at this point it's probably too late. You should probably request an adjournment to get the disclosure and hire appropriate representation. You could try plea-bargaining to a lesser offence as well, if that's what you're interested in.

Just wanted to post the follow up for everyone here. I ended up going into the trial and requested to speak to the prosecutor in private afterward. With no seeming way that I could get this charge quashed, as my officer was in attendance, I decided to speak to the prosecutor at hand. One of the paralegals I had contacted had let me know through email (thankfully) that the prosecutor in the specific courtroom was the most lenient and the best in Ottawa.

After stepping out of the courtroom, I proceeded to let her know that I was the designated driver that night and am typically the designated driver on most occasions. I mentioned that speeding and my drinking were certainly lapses in my judgment. I did tell her that the trial had taken a toll on me the past few weeks, but that I didn't necessarily find it to be a bad thing because if anything, the trial and the offence notice helped reinforce my values. Last, I made mention that I'm a student and was situated in a part of the city with very inaccessible public transportation and that a vehicle was vital to getting to school.

She amended my careless driving charge to a lesser charge, speeding over the limit by 20 km/h with a $90 fine. That's a big difference from $490 and tremendously lowers my insurance premiums to a far more reasonable level.

Hope this helps someone. Thank you for the feedback.