elusiv

quick question all...

Just got a ticket last night while driving downtown tonight. There was a big accident, and the police had to close down the road ahead of me. The road was crazy... cop cars everywhere , yellow tape, drunks running between cars because the bar 20 feet away had just closed.

Anyways, I thought they had detoured traffic and was forcing everyone to turn right. Turns out I was wrong, they were still treating the road as a one way LEFT. I turned right... made it about 2 FEET into the turn, (my tail end didnt even make it around the corner) stopped and backed up, and tried to make it over to the left.

A cop runs out from behind the yellow tape and pulls me over. He gets my license and registration, runs back to his vehicle and makes me wait. After 10 minutes or so he comes back, doesnt even tell he's charging me with, and wordlessly hands me back my stuff plus a ticket. Then he runs off. The ticket is for driving on the wrong side of the road.

This to me is ridiculous, they blocked off the far left lanes with police cars, ambulances and yellow tape. So it looked like you can't go left.

I made a mistake yes, but it was so insignificant and under those circumstances, with cop cars strewn randomly about the road, its a little difficult to see where traffic is suppose to go.

Anyways, now my question...

They spelled my middle name wrong, they also spelled my address wrong... the mistakes are minor, like... they got one letter of my name wrong... and for my address, they spelled my road name MOUNT, but i live on MONT. I'm going to dispute this either way, but does the fact that the officer made spelling mistakes everywhere give me any sort of advantage?

Again, i realize that i was technically wrong, but i was hoping for some leniency given the chaotic nature of the situation.

Thanks in advance...

Air Force RX8

No advantage that I see. Sounds like a bum deal, but I don't think those minor details will help your case.

Amur_

I have a book called, "Fight That Ticket In Ontario." They've been printing it since 1972. My copy was printed in 1993.


Tickets can have fatal flaws, meaning that you can ask for the court to quash the ticket. But these flaws are things like major omissions - no offence date, no defendant's name, no location, cop didn't sign it, etc.

The errors on your ticket won't be enough to quash it. Your best bet would have been to photograph the scene, plead not guilty and then explain to the judge that the police basically created a 'trap' in their management of traffic flow...

wcs

iTrader: (2)

you gotta fight that...

Chodapopp

Fight it for sure. You'll get off. Murderers have been let off for lesser things.

A few years ago I had a parking ticket on Greenfield Avenue in Ottawa near Ottawa U. Anyway the ticket said "Grenfield Ave". So I brought it into city hall and told the guy at the desk "If you can tell me where Grenfield Avenue in the City of Ottawa is located, I'll gladly pay this." The guy gave me a 5 min lecture on parking regulations in Ottawa but realized the ticket was an error and there was nothing he could do. I walked out with a huge smile on my face since I had just beaten the system.

Parker8

I would fight it. At the least you'll get a court date thats a minimum of 6 months away and the chance the crown will offer to plead you out to a lessor charge and you'll get more time to pay past that. There is a good chance when you go to plead not guilty they will quash the ticket. I've seen them quashed for the smallest little things. Go for it. What have you got to lose? Maybe a little of your own time?
Good luck!

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

If the officer doesn't come to court...you will get off right there. That's always a 50/50 thing.
Traffic offenses are way down the totem pole when it comes to priorities.......he might have to do something more important

rotten42

Plea-bargain it with the crown before your trial date. at the very least you should be able to have them drop the demerit points.

MyRxBad

iTrader: (1)

The thing to do is fight it. Set up a court date and then go to the station and ask for "disclosure". That will give you all the information that the cop has on the incident, so you will know what you are up against. This is your right to ask for it, and they have to provide this information. Another thing to do is ask that the case be remanded (pushed to a later date) as most cops set one specific day to deal with a number of cases. If you are able to accomplish this, it will greatly increase you odds of the cop not showing up in court.

Just a couple tips for you. Hope it helps.

Shamblerock

And DO NOT ADMIT FAULT otherwise you are done.

JUst tell them:

- how it happened
- what the scene was like
- How disorganized everything was
- There was no cop anywhere directing traffic
- cars going in all different directions, people honking horns
- You couldn'r find a cop to ask which direction so you presumed that you could turn this way/that way.....
- You were not in any hurry to go anywhere and there was no reason at all for you to purposely do what you did
- you sensed that perhaps it did not make sense as you started to turn, so you stopped
- Cop never asked questions and just gave you a ticket
- Offer the judge a free test drive in your 8!

If some of the above is not true, that's OK. Use them anyway.

Amur_

Sure thing, Senator.

crackerman

I'm not too sure if I exactly understand the circumstances of the "offence", but if you went the "wrong way down a one way street" and the cop wrote you for "driving down the wrong side of the road" he might have witten you the wrong charge (a fatal flaw)... that would be the case in Alberta, anyway.

I couldn't be sure unless I knew the specific particulars of the "offence", what province you're from (statutes, rules of the road, etc.) , and exactly what the cop wrote on the ticket (the section and the wording of the charge).

In my opinion, there's some pretty good advice, here. Though, you have to be careful about postponing court dates. Sure, the cop might not show for court, but depending on the agency, some of these guys live and breathe off of the amount of court time they get. Larger agency police officers get very well compensated for going to court on days off. And if the cop can't show up because of something else that is more important, all it takes is a phone call and the judge can push the court date back.

Also, you might just anger the judge if you want to postpone a court date without a good reason. Remember... when you plead not guilty and set a "trail" date, the assumption is that you will be ready for a "trail". Coming to court ill equipped can be a very bad thing if you have a "hangin' judge".

I think that Shamblerock has some really good advice. Except maybe the last part about fibbing on some of the facts ... I'm not going to get too preachy (I'm pretty sure the comment is meant to be light-hearted ; ) , but think of how you would feel if the copper got up on the stand and told a complete lie to get a conviction. And, besides, if the cop has good notes you could be just shooting your own ***** off.

elusiv

thanks all for the feedback! especially you shamblerock!

i'll DEFINITELY be taking all of this into consideration. thanks again everyone!

elusiv

dont worry crackerman, shamblerock was actually quite accurate :p
it's as if he was there with me, as it happened lol

i appreciate your concerns though!

Shamblerock

Of course I was there, I was the one who wrote you the ticket!

J/K