OHTA.ca

Copied and pasted from another thread.

OP charged with Careless Driving after a collision where red light running was involved.

Chevykid wrote:Hey there, I'm in a similar situation and was wondering if your relative faught the charge an what was the outcome of it? Did they get it dropped or reduced to a lower charge? an did u get a parelegal an if u can refer who they used?

If u could get back to me as soon as possible it would be much appriciated. Thanks

With a charge like Careless Driving, the best thing to do is to seek out professional legal advice. I would suggest you get in touch with a couple of different paralegals - they all usually offer free consultations. See who is genuinely interested in your case, and takes the time to listen to what you have to say.

Generally with Careless Driving, if it is your first offence, there's a good chance you can plea-bargain it down to a lesser offence.

Can you give us a general idea of what happened in your case?

Hey thanks, for the reply an sorry for the mix up!

Heres a description of what happened..I was driving my brother and his friends home and was going straight on highway 2 and I was talking to one of them to see where he lives an the best way to get there so the highway was our best bet soo I needed to get over soo I changed lanes before an intersection and went through what I thought was green light and someone was turning left an I didnt see them until I was in the middle of the intersection and we collided into one another..My truck suffered minor damage on the front corner and the other cars frontend was totalled!No serious injuries that im aware of other then one of the people in the other car had a pretty bad cut on there hand! Also, there was a witness that says I ran the red light, so I was charged with careless driving its my first offence an first accident and charge! Not sure if I should fight it at this point...any advice will be much appreciated

Thanks!

You definitely should fight careless driving. Careless Driving is one of the most serious offences you can be charged with under the HTA. You're looking at 6 demerit points, a possible licence suspension, up to $2000 in fines (I know the total payable is $490 but I wouldn't just pay it), and your insurance company is likely to either terminate your coverage or virtually double your rates if you get convicted!

File for a trial. Hwy 2 - was this in Scarborough?

You should be able to plea-bargain it down to Red Light - Fail to Stop. At least that's $325 total payable, and 3 demerit points with no licence suspension. MUCH better than careless. Your rates would likely be affected but not as much as if you had Careless Driving on your record. Fill out a Notice of Intent to Appear (available at the courthouse, or in some cases, on line) and take the ticket with it to the courthouse to file. You'll eventually receive a Notice of Trial. Then you can file for disclosure (we'll explain later). Since the officer did not witness the collision, they'll need other witnesses to attend the trial. With disclosure, the Prosecutor will (read: should) disclose all of the relevant evidence against you, including the officer's notes, collision report, and possibly witness statements.

I'd still suggest seeking out a paralegal for this charge. It's pretty serious and a committed legal representative is probably your best bet at this point.

Hope this helps.