154 in an 80 - Reduced to 114

Hello,

On June 19th I was pulled over by the OPP on Bruce County Road 3 in the municipality of Brockton, Ontario. My intent at the time was to overtake two cars going about 100 km/h. As I move into the left lane to over take the first car I hit about 120 km/h. Once I am beside the next car I wanted to overtake the 3 cars in front of him slam on there brakes because they must have notice the OPP officer staked out in a driveway coming up. These cars slamming on their brakes forced me to accelerate up to 160 km/h (which the SUV speed is limited to), and pass six cars instead of two that i intended on passing. The OPP officer clocked my speed at 154 km/h as I was forcefully merging back into the right lane because there was oncoming traffic quickly approaching.

Needless to say, I was overwhelmed that the officer did not impound my car for stunt driving. But I still think that I have a very good argument to have the charges reduced further, if not dropped. I am not a fast driver, this is my first offense (I am only 19) and I would really like my license to be spotless.

However, speaking with my good friend's father who is a lawyer, suggested that my best bet would be to plead guilty, because if I do go to trial, there is a chance that the ticket could be amended back up to 154 km/h. I certainly do not want that to happen. He said my only hope would be to request a trial, and if the cop did show up to court, just pay the ticket right then and there, so that the chance of the ticket being amended would be gone.

I feel that I do have an argument, and I'm sure there are multiple radar certification cards I could play as well, after reading many success stories on charges being dropped because of that.

Thoughts, comments, and concerns would be greatly appreciated. Like I said, I would really like to maintain a spotless record, but I don't want to puch this and open up a whole new can of worms.

Thanks

Go with the lawyer's advice. I guarantee if you go to trial the charge will be amended to the full amount. Passing vehicles isn't justification for speeding, and it isn't like you were going just a little over. I think if you go to Court and try to argue you deserve a further reduction you'll get a nasty shock.

If you fight these charges, as Stanton said, the Prosecutor will almost certainly withdraw the Speeding 114 in an 80, and replace it with Stunt Driving. They have up to 6 months to do that. Or, they could just amend it to Speeding 154 in an 80 at trial, no matter how long it takes to come forward.

I do not agree that you have a "good chance" of getting the charges reduced further, or even dropped. The speed limit was 80 km/h. It seems like you were attempting to pass several vehicles that, by your own admission, were already going over the limit. That is not a valid defence. The fact that you also continued to accelerate, instead of hitting the brakes yourself and abandoning the pass, will not be a justifiable defence for going nearly double the speed limit on an undivided highway. The courts want to see that you did not exceed the speed limit at all.

pman142 wrote:

I'm sure there are multiple radar certification cards I could play as well, after reading many success stories on charges being dropped because of that.

The recent case on this website with "calibration" was simply dropped. They do not state that "we are withdrawing it because we didn't provide calibration records." The assumptions about calibration being "the reason" were made by the posters and other people here. It was speculation. I would not recommend relying on that as a viable option. I have been in court often enough to see this tried more than once, and it has never worked. The Prosecutors simply dig up legal precedent and squash it.

The break that the officer gave you was, for lack of a better expression, shocking. The only thing you may be able to do is plea-bargain to a slightly lower speed in a First Attendance meeting, but that is probably not going to happen. Well, maybe the officer might not show up, or might completely goof up, but that's not likely to happen. If you were actually going 114 in an 80 and the speed wasn't reduced, well, I might suggest pursuing it but not in this particular case where you got a massive reduction and the consequences you are risking by fighting it are so severe. You may, within a few weeks of fighting the charge, get a notice that the Prosecutor has filed a motion to amend the charge to Stunt Driving, and possibly a host of others.

I would recommend that you simply pay this one. The courts are not easy to navigate and the Prosecutors do their job full-time. If a trained and qualified lawyer is telling you to pay it and let it go, I would listen to him.

Thanks for the quick reply guys. Not what I was hoping for, but definitely what I was expecting. I guess I should cut my losses on this one. I will let you know what the final outcome is though.

Just go buy a lottery ticket

You got pretty lucky getting dropped 40km on your ticket. I felt lucky getting dropped 2 in order to not get impounded. Do some more research, possibly just pay it. If you get amended back to 154, you're gone.