OHTA.ca

Tonight I was pulled over regarding a burnt out headlight. The officer told me that he'd give me till tomorrow to fix it, mentioned that he had my plate number, and said otherwise I would receive a summons. He sent me on my way without asking for my license or other information, and without giving me any sort of documentation or information.

My question is, do I need to prove I've fixed my headlight? It felt like he was just giving me a warning, but I don't want to find out later that he recorded this without giving me any documentation or information and that I failed to prove the light was fixed.

Second question; if I do need to prove it, where do I go and how do I get it handled without any kind of documentation?

i wonder ... if your pulled over for in the future, if it would still be considered a strict liability offense and if you can still argue that the headlights were working before you start driving

Sounds like a verbal warning to me.......... Try this, get the light fixed and take a picture with the date on it. If this comes up again, you have proof of the fix.

Not a big deal.

If the officer did decide to lay a charge because nobody came and showed him that it was fixed, he'd have a hard time getting a conviction on it because how will he prove who was driving at the time of the offence if he didn't obtain any identification from you, the driver. He will know the registered owner by running the plate, but there's no assumption in law that the registered owner was the driver.