OHTA.ca

Ok last week i was driving my girlfriends van and low and behold we come up to a RIDE program! I was hesitant because i have no license, and the only reason i was driving was because my girlfriend was watching her child in the back!! I was issued three differents tickets, one was driving with no insurance ( i had no idea the van didn't have insurance), driving with no license, and not wearing a seat-belt. the officer let my girlfriend drive the van home where we looked at the tickets a little closer and found that the officer had marked the wrong times on the tickets one says 10:56pm, the other says 6:00pm and there is no time on the other. When we went through the RIDE program i looked at the time and it was 9:45pm.

Question, do you think i should retain a lawyer because of a technicality and fight all three tickets?

I don't mind the seat belt ticket or the driving with no license ticket it is the no insurance ticket that worries me the most!! Any thoughts!!!

That's a lot of tickets and a dumb situation altogether.

You could argue the grounds on which you were stopped in the first place.

"The police are stopping motorists on an entirely arbitrary basis to question them and determine if they have been drinking. The police have no grounds to reasonably suspect that the driver has committed, was committing or was about to commit a criminal offence before the driver is requested to stop."

You should probably seek legal advice in that matter, as the no insurance charge is pretty serious. At least get the first attendance with prosecutor, see if you can get a deal.

I'd pony up with a paralegal. Try the form below.....

You can win the argument that RIDE programs are illegal under the Canadian Bill of Rights but I dont see it helping you in this case. The Canadian Bill of Rights only applies to federal laws. All of the charges you are facing are provincial charges. The Canadian Bill of Rights does not apply in this case.

Had you been charged with impaired, it would apply as impaired falls under the federal Criminal Code.

But you can still argue that the stop was unlawful since it was a RIDE program looking for impaired drivers under the federal Criminal Code. This would mean all of the evidence gathered against you must be excluded under s. 24 of the Charter.

I believe you can bring a section 24 application right now to have the charged dismissed as the evidence was not legally obtained.

You have other defences, though.

I like the French Language Service Act defence the best.

I find it amazing the officer let your girlfriend drive the van with no insurance and a baby in the car!