OHTA.ca

I just received a summons to court and had my vehicle towed for stunt driving. On the summons it says "Stunt driving - Going 50 km/h or more"

So here's the story...

Officer travelling N/B on QEW, same direction as me. I noticed officer in front of me driving approximately 140 km/h as I was using the passing lane to get my vehicle to a comfortable distance from the other vehicles around me as we were all driving too close.

The flow of traffic was 140km/h which was probably why the officer was going that speed. For my safety I was also travelling around this speed.

I was going the same speed as the officer and was pulled over shortly after.

Officer did not converse with me, approached window with a flashlight and mentioned that I was pulled over for stunt driving at 162km/h and needed my driver's license and to call someone to pick me up as my car was being towed. He did not ask for insurance or anything else.

Officer then went back to his cruiser. He stayed there until my ride came to pick me up. He then came back to my vehicle and handed me the papers for my court and license suspension.

The tow truck arrived less than 5 mins from when I was pulled over. I asked the officer a few questions regarding the towing of my vehicle such as the approx cost of towing for 7 days, he replied usually $700 and mentioned he's a good friend of the owner and I can get a good deal if I ask for one. Huge red flag as the whole interaction I was still confused as to why I was being pulled over. Again, due to COVID-19 there are not many cars on the road and the flow of traffic has increased. For my safety and the safety of other drivers I felt it was necessary to maintain my speed with the flow of traffic.

Officer was in a moving vehicle on the highway at 12:30 AM going N/B, same direction as me and was several kms ahead of me.

Point of concern for me is the officer was operating his vehicle and somehow using the speed gun at the same time to clock my vehicle from behind him at a distance. By doing so he not only risked the safety of himself, but myself and other people on the road. On that note, assuming he performed this safely, the speed gun could not have been accurately set up and operated. Since the officer was travelling the same direction as me and was ahead of me at a high rate of speed... There is reasonable doubt that the speed gun did not accurately clock my vehicle and thus resulting in an unlawful abuse of power. The officer towed my vehicle based on the assumption that I was going as stated on the summons to court slip "50 or more km/h" the officer did not state the exact clock speed on the summons.

Red flags

- Officer travelling same direction as me at a high rate of speed and somehow accurately clocked me at 162km/h.

- Officer did not state the exact clock speed on summons to court and instead gave an assumed range.

- Officer called tow truck in less than 5 mins of being pulled over.

- Officer disclosed he knows the owner of the tow yard and disclosed approx how much I'll be paying for a 7 day suspension and that I can ask the owner who's a good guy and he'll give me a better deal.

- Possible inside job.

- I have a really nice car and it's very eye catching, looks like I am wealthy when in reality I am actually not. Car is worth less than 5K. I put time and effort into making the exterior of my car look good. I recently got into car detailing and had completed a full detail at home by myself just before the long weekend. I drive a tuner car, older but nice body with a lot of work put into it.

I am posting here because I am not entirely sure what options I have and what I should do. I am pretty confident the officer did not clock me 162 km/h as I was not driving that speed and did not pass his cruiser. I also had a witness in the car who witnessed the whole thing. I have videos of our interaction during my question phase when he came to hand me the papers.

Officer was aware but did not acknowledge other cars going the same speed, simply said the limit is 100 km/h and I was over. Said I can discuss that in court. Left me super confused and without a car during the pandemic... I am an essential worker and need my car to commute to work. I work in the insurance industry and we are still operating.

Can I request disclosure and speed gun manual before summons date?

Should I go to trial with the evidence I have?

Based on everything I mentioned what's the best course of action for me, please advise as I genuinely feel the speed gun recorded an inaccurate number due to the circumstances the officer was in.

ThrowawayTicket wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:45 amAgain, due to COVID-19 there are not many cars on the road and the flow of traffic has increased. For my safety and the safety of other drivers I felt it was necessary to maintain my speed with the flow of traffic.

"The flow of traffic" isn't defined in the Highway Traffic Act. In other words, there's no such thing. The Highway Traffic Act dictates that you keep to the rightmost lane and traffic can safely pass on your left if they choose to do so.

ThrowawayTicket wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:45 am Point of concern for me is the officer was operating his vehicle and somehow using the speed gun at the same time to clock my vehicle from behind him at a distance. By doing so he not only risked the safety of himself, but myself and other people on the road. On that note, assuming he performed this safely, the speed gun could not have been accurately set up and operated. Since the officer was travelling the same direction as me and was ahead of me at a high rate of speed... There is reasonable doubt that the speed gun did not accurately clock my vehicle and thus resulting in an unlawful abuse of power. The officer towed my vehicle based on the assumption that I was going as stated on the summons to court slip "50 or more km/h" the officer did not state the exact clock speed on the summons.

Police vehicles are equipped with moving radar. They can check the speed of the vehicle in front, behind, or even in the opposite direction. The officer does not operate a handheld while driving.

They can also pace a vehicle to confirm their readings.

ThrowawayTicket wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:45 am - Officer travelling same direction as me at a high rate of speed and somehow accurately clocked me at 162km/h.

See above.

ThrowawayTicket wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:45 am - Officer did not state the exact clock speed on summons to court and instead gave an assumed range.

It wouldn't be on your summons. You weren't charged with speeding. You were charged with Stunt Driving: 50km+.

There is a list of offenses that constitute stunt driving. Driving with a person in the trunk is also stunt driving. You were charged with driving 50km+ over the limit, which is a category of stunt driving. Anything over 50 is the charge.

If you want to know the exact speed, it will be located in the officers notes and you can file a disclosure request for those.

ThrowawayTicket wrote: ↑Sun Apr 12, 2020 4:45 am

- Officer called tow truck in less than 5 mins of being pulled over.

- Officer disclosed he knows the owner of the tow yard and disclosed approx how much I'll be paying for a 7 day suspension and that I can ask the owner who's a good guy and he'll give me a better deal.

- Possible inside job.

The municipality in which you were pulled over puts out a tender for towing contracts within their boundaries. Towing companies provide a bid and the municipality chooses a company to fulfill the contract.

You haven't raised any valid legal defence.

As Bend states, police cruisers are set up with moving radar--they have at least 2 antennas; one measures traffic in front of the vehicle, the other measures cars approaching from behind. Its called a moving radar since the patrol car can also measure speed while it is moving. So, all the officer had to do was simply set his radar to the back antenna with one click and lock your speed. They don't hold the radar---its mounted to the vehicle.

As for the "moving with the flow of traffic" argument; that is never a legal defence. The speed limit is the speed limit. It doesn't matter if others are traveling above it; your legal obligation is to abide by it. You also have no other valid excuse to speed (i.e. necessity) so you really have no way of completely winning. At best, they might reduce the charge from stunt driving to just a speeding charge. The speed was quite excessive so its questionable whether they'll do that though. Regardless, you are going to have a very difficult time to argue that speeding was necessary when there wasn't a lot of traffic on the road----after all, you could simply stay in the slower lanes and slow down to let them pass. But, you were on the left lane at a high rate of speed---have you considered that maybe YOU were the one setting the speed for the flow of traffic.

Hi guys, thank you so much for your thoughtful responses.

I reached out to an ex officer who now does legal work. I'll be looking to drop the charges, and start a civil suit against the OPP for misconduct.

I maybe didn't articulate the story enough for you. This ticket was in a rural area with no street lights and the officer was several meters ahead of me. Keep in mind officer stated he was cruising at 115. I did not pass the officer. The speeding radar requires light and accuracy to appropriately determine an accurate speed. He was in the far right lane several meters ahead and I on the far left lane. When I was performing a safe pass. Before that I was behind the vehicle in front of me so impossible to radar my car with another car in front of me.

Officer also did not disclose exact speed and was bouncing around from 150, to 162, to 161. No exact speed was stated, probably why I didn't receive a separate summons for speeding. Officer seemed under the influence or may have been extremely tired as it was super late. The whole traffic stop and towing was completed in about 10 mins.

If an admin can kindly close this thread, I've reached the right parties and we have sufficient ground for a great case.

Thanks again for your input, gave me some insight on a few things I did not know!! Stay safe everyone.