OHTA.ca

Okay so I know it is no points and only a $30 fine but I've only had a G license for maybe 2 years and really can't afford increased insurance.

Late at night on a smooth empty 4 lane city street, a cruiser tucked into a hidden driveway came into view and I gently braked and was pulled over. If I recall correctly I did nod when asked if I was aware I was speeding but we never got into detail. When he returned he told me I was doing 72km/h in a 50km/h but he had written it as 55km/h in a 50km/h zone.

I'm currently unemployed so fighting it sounds like a worthy use of my time but I don't want to cause more problems for myself either. Is the worst case scenario simply that I'd be called a liar if I plead not guilty? Empty street at night seems like it would be difficult to claim strict liability? Other options? It's in Toronto and the ticket doesn't list a 4th option I saw in the help section of just getting to discuss it with the prosecutor though that is mentioned as the third point of Trial option. This is the first time I had ever been pulled over, let alone received a ticket.

Thanks for any advice and sorry if I missed a similar post or this is just trivial.

Speeding is an absolute liability offence, not strict. Therefore you can not raise a defence of due dilligence.

If you want to raise a defence you need to try to prove that the officer is mistaken and you were, in fact, not speeding.

If you were actually going 22 km/hr over and it was reduced to 5 km/hr over I'd say you got luck. I've never heard of a ticket being reduce to the single digits.

In Toronto you just attend the court house and file for Option 3 and if you want to just speak to the prosecutor about it you can usually do that the same day. However, I feel pretty confident that you're not going to be offered a better deal than 5 km/hr

Hah okay thanks so much man. I read that in some regions they will amend up a reduced ticket if you challenge it, do you know if this happens in Toronto? Have you by any chance heard of insurance companies seizing upon a single small speeding offence like this to increase one's rates? Takes two speeding offences maybe? I decided I am just going to pay it mostly based on fear of the amend up. Thanks again.

Tickets can definitely be amended to the original speed if you fight them. This does not happen in all regions though. I believe Toronto is one of the ones that does not, but I'm not certain. Perhaps someone else can advise on that.

With regards to insurance companies, no one knows how they calculate your rates except them. It depends on your company and your policy. You could just call them and ask a hypothetical question.