“Daughter Charged With 144 (19)”

My daughter was charged with section 144 (19) tonight for turning left on red light. She says it was green. It is written on the ticket as ....Turn on red light...fail to yield. She has her G2. The intersection has no one way streets involved at all. My belief is the officer was trying to give her a break and not charge her with 144 (18) which would have been demerit points and a lot more money. Do you think there is any merit in fighting this or would the ticket be amended in court.

Great website by the way!

I agree that the officer probably reduced the ticket to "Turn on Red - Fail to Yield" to avoid the fine/points, basically a break for a newer driver. If he'd given her Red Light - Fail to Stop or Red Light - Proceed Before Green, that would've been $325 total payable and 3 points, plus a big insurance hit. There is a chance that the Prosecutor could withdraw the original charge and replace it with something else. How likely is it? Depends on the jurisdiction. Toronto/GTA or Ottawa: Not likely, but possible. Other cities: 50/50. Rural Ontario: Almost certain.

If you really did want to pursue it, you could file for a trial date and get the officer's notes to see his version of events. Unless there was another vehicle involved, 144 (19) wouldn't really apply, so if it went to trial on that charge, you'd probably win. HOWEVER, when you file to fight the ticket, the officer would then brief the Prosecutor on what happened. Then the Prosecutor gets to decide whether or not to amend the charge. They have up to six months from the original infraction to do so. A good Prosecutor is not going to bring a charge to trial unless the officer's evidence supports it. There's a possibility that the officer may not show up, they may take too long to bring the case forward, etc.

But all in all, in this case, I'd just suggest either paying the fine, or if you wanted a reduced fine, pick option 2 and see how it goes.