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Hi Folks,

My friend and I are both originally from Germany . I allow her to use my car when she is visiting . Today I received a red light camera ticket in the mail . She ran the light less than 1 second after it turned red . I am the owner of the vehicle .

Her English is quite poor and she would require an interpreter .

1) Will they provide an interpreter for a red light camera ticket ?

2) What steps should she take ?

3) As the vehicle owner , how should I proceed ? Do I have to attend the court at trial or for any other reason ?

4) Is there anything I should do to protect myself ?

Thank you,

Joachim

1) An interpreter would be provided if needed.

2) You've been charged as the owner, not her. It's your decision as to how to proceed with the ticket.

3) You don't have to attend Court unless you plan on fighting the ticket.

4) Since you were charged as the owner and not the driver, there is no impact on your insurance, etc. You simply won't be able to renew your plates until the fine is paid.

In short, there's not really much you can fight the ticket on. Usually the best you can do is work out a plea deal with the Crown for a reduced fine.

Stanton summed it up pretty well. If you want to schedule a resolution meeting and see if they are willing to reduce the fine, you can try that. There's very little you can do in order to fight this ticket. You're better off trying to get them to lower the ticket and just paying the rest off. The owner of the vehicle is responsible, but once you pay it off you'll never have to worry about it again. Your insurance company will never know. You can pay it and forget about it.

Honestly, the biggest issue you're probably going to have is who is going to pay the ticket. That's going to be an issue between you and your friend. Once that's settled, there's nothing more to worry about.

Thank you Stanton & Bend .

The information you have both provided is very helpful .

My friend is wondering whether she can attend court and take this to trial since she was the driver .

Is there any legal document that we can prepare to facilitate this ?

Thank you,

Joachim

Failing to stop for a red light is an absolute liability offence in Ontario. The courts are only interested in whether she stopped or not, they don't care why she didn't stop.

Why does she plan on proceeding to trial? What is your friend's defence to running the red light?

The ticket does not affect your insurance or driver's license; she might as well accept a plea-deal for a lower fine, and if she has trouble paying due to financial difficulty; she can share this with the justice of peace and get extra time to pay.

She could request disclosure for enlarged photographs of the ones provided in the ticket. That's about it.

Germany wrote:My friend is wondering whether she can attend court and take this to trial since she was the driver.

Nope. You are charged as the owner - you have to attend court (if you want to fight it).