OHTA.ca

I got pulled over for the first time ever in a residential area for disobeying stop sign. As I was slowly approaching the stop sign, I was looking for other cars/pesdestrians, properly signaling my intention, stopped for half a second and proceeded to make a right turn. An officer was parked waiting about 30 meters away and motioned me to pull over.

The car I was driving is my parents vehicle. The officer ask for my license(which i had) and insurance and vehicle permit. I opened the glove box frantically looking for those 2 documents but the amount of envelopes and random receipts and junk in the glove box was overwhelming. The insurance card and motor vehicle permit were in the car I just couldn't find it in time.

The officer goes back to his car and I'm still looking for the documents. He come back shortly and hands me back my license along the 3 tickets! Disobey stop sign, failure to have insurance card, and fail to surrender permit for motor vehicle. I ask the officer if can i call my father and he will tell me exaclty where in the car the documents are, but he said he had to go and told me to setup an Early Resolution meeting with proof and "maybe" the tickets for not surrendering documents will be dropped. And then he left. As soon as he left I called my dad and he told me exactly where they were and in mere seconds I found them.

I mean, I'm fine paying the stop sign ticket as I did excercise poor judgement in not coming to a complete standstill stop (altough I made sure no cars or pedestrians were present at the intersection) but what are my options for the other tickets(total $175). Is what the officer said true about the early resolution meetings. Will any of those tickets affect car insurance rates (1st and hopefully last time offender). I know you should always know where insurance and permit are no matter if its your car or not so lesson learned. Thanks!

It's important to realize that the tickets for the insurance and permit are for not being able to surrender them upon request. The officer isn't saying you don't have insurance or that you don't have a copy of your permit. What the ticket basically means is that you were asked for these documents and you couldn't provide them then and there, which you are required to do under the HTA. Regardless if you could provide them later, you would still be found guilty.

What the officer says is correct. Sometimes you can request an early resolution meeting and show these documents. They might decide to cut you a deal, like dropping the two surrender tickets for a guilty plea on the stop sign. They are certainly under no obligation to do so, but it's definitely a possibility.

Yes, these tickets will impact your insurance upon conviction. Providers have a surcharge listed for all three of these tickets.