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On the morning of January 24th 2010, at approximately 10:45am, I was on my way home traveling westbound on the QEW after having taken my mother to work. I exited the QEW at Cawthra Rd. and proceeded to travel southbound on Cawthra in the far right lane. Approximately 230m from the intersection of Cawthra and South Service Road, I scanned the intersection ahead of me and spotted Officer X's white police cruiser in the left turning lane on South Service Road facing westbound behind a red light. The light facing me was green as I continued southbound on Cawthra at the posted speed limit of 50km/h. As I drew closer to the intersection, I turned on my right signal and began slowing down to make the right turn. Approximately 10 meters from the intersection, I observed the light turn to amber, but I did not have enough time to make a safe stop and proceeded past the white strip line. Having entered the intersection on an amber light, I made a partial stop at the curb and made sure that there was no northbound traffic on Cawthra attempting to make a left turn at amber. After deciding my way was clear, I safely proceeded and completed my turn into North Service Road.
Just under 10 seconds later, I spotted the same cruiser from the intersection behind me with its lights on. I promptly pulled over to the right curb on South Service Road and the cruiser stopped behind me. Officer X walked up to my window and stated that I blew a red light by not making a full stop and that it was a reckless action. I did not argue with the officer and calmly answered all of her questions and presented proper identification when requested. After having collected my driver’s license, proof of insurance, and vehicle registration, Officer X walked back to her car and returned several minutes later with a ticket in her hand. Confused at the thought of receiving a ticket for a right turn at an amber light, I asked if I was receiving a ticket. Officer X replied “yeah you’re getting a ticket, the fine is $325.” I told her I didn’t understand why I was being ticketed, and she replied, “Listen I’ve warned like 5 other people about the same thing, you didn’t make a full stop at the red light and the guy in the car next to me was like ‘huh’ when you went through; I can’t let you off.” Officer X then explained that I would receive demerit points and my insurance would “jack up”, but she suggested that I attend court and fight it, in which case she would be more than glad to explain to the court that I’ve been very polite and calm and it would assist me in my case.
On that particular morning, the road was slightly wet as it had been raining overnight; this is proven correct according to the Weather Network’s historical data for January 24th 2010. Considering the wet road conditions, a reckless turn would've caused my car to slide out and hit the median on South Service Road. As well, I was carrying my hockey equipment in the car at the time and my goalie pads and sticks were on top of the rear seats. A quick and reckless turn would have caused the pads to topple over to the left side of the car. When Officer X approached me, the pads were still neatly stacked on top of each other on the rear seats.
According to Officer X’s notes, she observed my vehicle pass the “clearly labeled white strip”, but according to this photo which was taken from the same position that Officer X was standing in, the strip is not clearly visible. She would have had to eyeball its location.
In her notes, Officer X stated that she observed my vehicle approach the intersection against the amber light, however I do not believe that my generic, silver, third-generation Mazda Protégé would have taken her attention away from the rest of the traffic around her; it is one of the most common cars on the road. Officer X also wrote “did not lose sight of vehicle”, however it is written on the side of her notes [show disclosure], as if added at a later time, which forces me to question the validity of her notes. There is no guarantee that the Officer X entered the correct information in her notes.
The likely scenario is that Officer X first observed my car enter the intersection, then looked back at the light and saw it had turned to red—because the amber had cycled at this point—and concluded that I must have entered on a red light. When I entered the intersection, I checked the northbound leftmost lane on Cawthra to make sure there were no cars turning left on the amber and then proceeded through the intersection. As well, I quickly observed the first line of vehicles eastbound on South Service Road and noticed they had not yet moved as I drove past. This means they were still facing a red light. Had I entered the intersection at a late red light as Officer X suggests, those eastbound cars would already be facing a green light by the time I drove past them.
[will gather data on light cycles for this part]
I don't know how a defense statement should be structured, so I'm hoping what I've written is enough. Please let me know if there's something I should rewrite or expand on. I want to make sure the truth is as waterproof as possible.
Last edited by Mazda on Fri Mar 26, 2010 10:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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