OHTA.ca

Hello!

Today I had the unpleasant experience of dealing with police officers from Quebec and wanted your opinions whether they were targeting me because of my Ontario plates (I've heard many instances of this) or if the reason was legitimate.

I was returning from a day at Mt. Cascade water park and on the way back found myself being followed by two marked Quebec police cruisers for about a dozen kilometers. I slowly caught up to a slow driver, going the speed limit (70km/h), but the police and i were traveling 75-80km/h and once we caught up, the driver slowed even more (probably nervous about the cops).

It was on a two lane road so I waited for there to be a broken line on my side, waited for oncoming traffic to pass and started to pass. While I passing in the oncoming lane, the line returned to a double solid, I merged thinking nothing of it (not like i was going to stay in the oncoming lane... duh). The police proceed to turn their lights on and pull me over. The reason being when I merged back to my lane it was double solid...

I'm 20 years old (driving for 4 years), have a clean record (driving and criminal) and he didn't even think of letting me off with a warning, instead I have a 300$ ticket and 3 demerits. No one was hurt, I think it was a safe maneuver and I think they were targeting my Ontario plates. I AM FIGHTING IT NO MATTER.

Any intelligent input is appreciated, Tom.

The problem is that in Quebec, passing on a double yellow line is illegal, whether the move is safe or not. So from a purely legal standpoint they were justified in stopping you.

As far as fighting tickets in Quebec, their system is much different than Ontario. You get surcharges and fees for going to court, and they have a complicated system that is best handled by a professional. Despite what some people say, Ontario's traffic court system, while far from perfect, is much more fair. There should be some traffic ticket people in Gatineau who can help. I don't really have much input as far as how to argue against the ticket. In Quebec, the officer does not even have to appear for trial - they can submit their notes and that's sufficient evidence!

Just to be clear, when i passed it was a broken line, it was when i merged back to my initial lane that it had become double solid.

To my knowledge in Quebec you have to complete your passing manoeuvre on the broken line.

Sigh... ok thank you for your help. I've done some research and the official offense he might have given me is "careless driving" but that's a stretch for what happened.