OHTA.ca

Alright, so I did something really stupid the other day, I was driving down a country road and wanted to hit the curves so I passed 3 cars at once, inadvertently making it up to very much past 50 over (80 limit)... Much to my chagrin there was a cop coming in the opposite direction who immediately skidded on the gravel shoulder and who I thought was 100% going to turn around and pull me over, impound my car, the whole 9 yards. But I turned right at the next opportunity and just stayed at 80 and the cop never caught up to me. Obviously i consider myself super lucky here, and that was an incredibly stupid thing to do and i will never do it again, however my question is - am I safe now? I've read that they have up to 6 months to serve with a category 3 offence, which this surely falls under, but did he or she catch my plates? Do OPP cars have dashcams in them? Was the radar even going and therefore did they even catch my exact speed?

I'm really worried about this, and I guess you could say justifiably so, but i'd appreciate some guidance here.

Cheers

Remember you have the right to NOT talk to police and to NOT answer any questions.

They can not charge the DRIVER unless they can identify the driver. If they show up asking who the driver is, and you tell them it was you, then they can charge you as the driver because you admitted it. If they show up asking who the driver is, but you just keep saying that you are not obligated to answer any questions and have no comment on the event, then they will not be able to identify the driver and therefore the driver can not be charged. Remember NEVER LIE TO POLICE, but not answering a question is not lying and it is your right.

To learn more, Google:

and read few of the articles (not the paid ads at the top) in the list that shows up.

Are there other ways to identify the driver? Well if they had video in the car and got a good picture of you, then maybe they can use that. Or if you are not the owner of the vehicle and they ask the owner who was driving at the time, they could possibly use that.

If they only got a license plate, they could however charge the OWNER of the vehicle. A charge against the OWNER does not have have any demerits and does not any insurance implications, so this would be a lot less serious.

And yes they up to 6 months to charge you.

They can't charge the owner for speeding or stunt. They have to identify the driver.

ShrekTek wrote:Remember you have the right to NOT talk to police and to NOT answer any questions.

They can not charge the DRIVER unless they can identify the driver. If they show up asking who the driver is, and you tell them it was you, then they can charge you as the driver because you admitted it. If they show up asking who the driver is, but you just keep saying that you are not obligated to answer any questions and have no comment on the event, then they will not be able to identify the driver and therefore the driver can not be charged. Remember NEVER LIE TO POLICE, but not answering a question is not lying and it is your right.

To learn more, Google:

ontario know your rights talking to police

and read few of the articles (not the paid ads at the top) in the list that shows up.

Are there other ways to identify the driver? Well if they had video in the car and got a good picture of you, then maybe they can use that. Or if you are not the owner of the vehicle and they ask the owner who was driving at the time, they could possibly use that.

If they only got a license plate, they could however charge the OWNER of the vehicle. A charge against the OWNER does not have have any demerits and does not any insurance implications, so this would be a lot less serious.

And yes they up to 6 months to charge you.

Thank you. So it sounds like i'm in the clear so to speak, I googled it and as of 2015 OPP cars don't have dashcams in them (they scrapped the project as too much $$$ and my county definitely wasn't one of the pilot projects) http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/opp-abandons- ... -1.2652372 so they don't have me on video. I am not the owner of the vehicle and i've let people in my household know what happened so they know to say no comment if they do come to the door. Personally I think they would have come by now if they were interested. Now that is not a professional opinion so please correct me if i'm wrong, I know nothing about cops, up until now I thought radar only worked when the cop car was stopped and pointing right at you. I understand they have up to 6 months, but I don't understand why they would wait that long?

And if as Decatur says, they can't charge the owner with speeding or stunt, then they can't charge me or the owner at all then?

Cheers

good info dude,

question

If you are asked a question and you refuse to answer can they not get you on obstruction ?

If not (or if so) what are examples of obstruction

txs

ShrekTek wrote:Remember you have the right to NOT talk to police and to NOT answer any questions.

They can not charge the DRIVER unless they can identify the driver. If they show up asking who the driver is, and you tell them it was you, then they can charge you as the driver because you admitted it. If they show up asking who the driver is, but you just keep saying that you are not obligated to answer any questions and have no comment on the event, then they will not be able to identify the driver and therefore the driver can not be charged. Remember NEVER LIE TO POLICE, but not answering a question is not lying and it is your right.

bobajob wrote:good info dude,

question

If you are asked a question and you refuse to answer can they not get you on obstruction ?

If not (or if so) what are examples of obstruction

txs

ShrekTek wrote:Remember you have the right to NOT talk to police and to NOT answer any questions.

They can not charge the DRIVER unless they can identify the driver. If they show up asking who the driver is, and you tell them it was you, then they can charge you as the driver because you admitted it. If they show up asking who the driver is, but you just keep saying that you are not obligated to answer any questions and have no comment on the event, then they will not be able to identify the driver and therefore the driver can not be charged. Remember NEVER LIE TO POLICE, but not answering a question is not lying and it is your right.

1) They aren't interested in coming to your door because you were speeding, the officer likely realized he couldn't safely get turned around or he possibly didn't even have a radar equipped vehicle and realized it wasn't worth it.

2) You cannot be charged with obstruction for failing to answer the questions of a police officer ( see s. 129 of the criminal code ) . You could be charged for knowingly doing things that would obstruct their investigation, if they can prove this. You do not have to identify yourself unless you've committed an offence, if they allege that you have the best route to take is ,'' My name is John Doe my birthdate is 2001/01/01 and I reside at 1234 Anywhere St in Anytown Ontario. I do not wish to make a statement.'' By doing this you've got nothing to lose they will ID you one way or another and this way save you from getting put in bracelets. Some circumstances dictate that you must ID, some of the ''freedom fighters'' on here may disagree but I speak from first hand experience, they do not.

but by not answering there question , surly that is what your doing your obstructing their investigation ?

Nanuk wrote: You could be charged for knowingly doing things that would obstruct their investigation, if they can prove this.

bobajob wrote:but by not answering there question , surly that is what your doing your obstructing their investigation ?

Nanuk wrote: You could be charged for knowingly doing things that would obstruct their investigation, if they can prove this.

Not exactly.

A frustrated police officer cant just go '' oh you dont want to admit to this crime so your obstructing me so I'll arrest you.'' In R v Soltys (1980) 56 CCC (2d) 43 at p 45, the BC Court of Appeal, cited Black's Law Dictionary, stated "obstruct" means "to impede; to interpose impediments. If the police have no authority to question you than you are not compelled to answer questions. If they do have a reason they will tell you ex . '' your are being investigated for failure to remain at the scene of a collision on highway 417'' this will likely be followed by advising you of your rights and a caution.

As long as you properly identify yourself they should have no reason to arrest you. You have the right to be protected against self incrimination as per the charter. If they are talking to you as a suspect in an offence they'd have to advise you of your charter rights first to have any of the statements admitted into evidence, at which time they should tell you you have the right to remain silent you do not have to say anything.

Don't confuse obstruction with right to silence. Obstruction might be telling police you haven't seen someone when, in fact, they're in the house with you.

In this case as has been said - copper saw your (very) poor driving, hit the brakes, then realised he couldn't safely get you. Remember, you have to be lucky all the time, he only has to be lucky once.

You got a break...Slow down.