If you can bring doubt to the accuracy of the radar or lidar device the officer used in a speeding ticket, then you can probably get the radar evidence thrown out and beat the ticket. There are two ways to do this: (1) Bring your own expert witness to testify for you. Very expensive! (2) Cross-examine the officer with questions that bring doubt to the devices accuracy. This option is obviously the less expensive way, but is actually very difficult to do because the officer themselves is not required to be an expert in all areas of the radar and they can just answer they do not know to most of your questions and you have not achieved anything or brought any doubt to the device. So here is a suggested way that you can try, which combines both methods... I spent a lot of time searching for this case law, and found it on LexisNexis QuickLaw R. v. Brewer [1988] O.J. No. 2531 Get a copy here http://iwebss.com/wp-content/uploads/20 ... o-2531.pdf Print three copies of it and highlight the last paragraph on page 3 (and into page 4). Note what Judge Lampkin says in this paragraph: "I, myself, have looked at what I believe has come to be regarded, In these courts at least, as an authoritative work: "The Law on Speeding and Radar", a book which I commend to the Bar on both sides, defence as well as Crown, and indeed particularly to the police. It is authored by A. Shakoor Manraj, C.C., of The Middle Temple, London, England, barrister-at-law, Crown Prosecutor in The Provincial Offences Appeal Court at Old City Hall, Toronto; and Paul Douglas Haines, ph.D., formerly Consultant to both Canadian and United states Remote Sensing and Defence Research Establishments, now Vice president and Director of Research for Qualimage Incorporated, Gatineau, Quebec, and Research Analyst in Satellite and Airborne Image and Information Processing Systems." Now get a copy of "The Law on Speeding" by Manraj and Haines and bring this to court as well. Of course you have to read thru it and highlight the important parts first. During cross examination of the officer you can give a copy of the case law to JP and prosecutor and tell them that you will be asking the officer to read some portions of the book and will be asking him some questions from the book, and that Judge Lampkin's comments in the case law prove the book has some weight and authority. You are NOT trying to enter the book into evidence. You just want to be able to have the officer read from it and and answer questions from it. So what we are trying to acheive here is having the officer read sections of the book and then asking him if he agrees with what he read or not. If officer answers yes, then great. If the officer answers no, then we ask if he is an expert in this area of radar and knows more than the people that wrote the book (to which he should say no). Whether he answers yes or no is really irrelevent because Judege Lampkin has given weight to the words in the book, and once the officer reads from it, the JP will have to consider it. It is up to the JP in the end to how much weight they give the information in the book, but I believe because the case law is from a JUDGE, they will have to consider it and give it some weight. I will follow up in the future with more details on what sections of the book are probably important.
If you can bring doubt to the accuracy of the radar or lidar device the officer used in a speeding ticket, then you can probably get the radar evidence thrown out and beat the ticket.
There are two ways to do this:
(1) Bring your own expert witness to testify for you. Very expensive!
(2) Cross-examine the officer with questions that bring doubt to the devices accuracy. This option is obviously the less expensive way, but is actually very difficult to do because the officer themselves is not required to be an expert in all areas of the radar and they can just answer they do not know to most of your questions and you have not achieved anything or brought any doubt to the device.
So here is a suggested way that you can try, which combines both methods...
I spent a lot of time searching for this case law, and found it on LexisNexis QuickLaw
Print three copies of it and highlight the last paragraph on page 3 (and into page 4). Note what Judge Lampkin says in this paragraph:
"I, myself, have looked at what I believe has come to be regarded, In these courts at least, as an authoritative work: "The Law on Speeding and Radar", a book which I commend to the Bar on both sides, defence as well as Crown, and indeed particularly to the police. It is authored by A. Shakoor Manraj, C.C., of The Middle Temple, London, England, barrister-at-law, Crown Prosecutor in The Provincial Offences Appeal Court at Old City Hall, Toronto; and Paul Douglas Haines, ph.D., formerly Consultant to both Canadian and United states Remote Sensing and Defence Research Establishments, now Vice president and Director of Research for Qualimage Incorporated, Gatineau, Quebec, and Research Analyst in Satellite and Airborne Image and Information Processing Systems."
Now get a copy of "The Law on Speeding" by Manraj and Haines and bring this to court as well. Of course you have to read thru it and highlight the important parts first.
During cross examination of the officer you can give a copy of the case law to JP and prosecutor and tell them that you will be asking the officer to read some portions of the book and will be asking him some questions from the book, and that Judge Lampkin's comments in the case law prove the book has some weight and authority. You are NOT trying to enter the book into evidence. You just want to be able to have the officer read from it and and answer questions from it.
So what we are trying to acheive here is having the officer read sections of the book and then asking him if he agrees with what he read or not. If officer answers yes, then great. If the officer answers no, then we ask if he is an expert in this area of radar and knows more than the people that wrote the book (to which he should say no). Whether he answers yes or no is really irrelevent because Judege Lampkin has given weight to the words in the book, and once the officer reads from it, the JP will have to consider it.
It is up to the JP in the end to how much weight they give the information in the book, but I believe because the case law is from a JUDGE, they will have to consider it and give it some weight.
I will follow up in the future with more details on what sections of the book are probably important.
The only thing i'll say about that case is that: 1) It's from 1986, well prior to any training standards in Ontario. 2) Strike out any reference to tuning forks as most manufacturers don't require their use here. 3) It appears the officer didn't receive any training by a qualified instructor and didn't follow the manufacturers testing instructions. Of course this case should have been turned over at this level. 4) This is a Ontario Provincial Court decision and i'm sure there have been several higher court decisions since this one. Finally, good luck trying to have only select paragraphs read from a book. You can't simply cherry pick out portions of a book that you agree with and leave out others. Thats like picking only case law that is in your favour and ignoring all of the others.
The only thing i'll say about that case is that:
1) It's from 1986, well prior to any training standards in Ontario.
2) Strike out any reference to tuning forks as most manufacturers don't require their use here.
3) It appears the officer didn't receive any training by a qualified instructor and didn't follow the manufacturers testing instructions. Of course this case should have been turned over at this level.
4) This is a Ontario Provincial Court decision and i'm sure there have been several higher court decisions since this one.
Finally, good luck trying to have only select paragraphs read from a book. You can't simply cherry pick out portions of a book that you agree with and leave out others. Thats like picking only case law that is in your favour and ignoring all of the others.
I got a speeding ticket on the 401 by Cornwall. The officer said I was going 140 initially then dropped it to 130 (for the record I don't believe for a second I was going 140, that's way faster than I would ever intentionally drive). I filled out the info on the back of the notice to request a…
I was recently charged with stunt driving on a 60kmh road. When I was pulled over, the officer told me I was going almost 100kmh (still 40kmh above the limit) but was charging me for stunt driving because I accelerated quickly from an intersection on an empty road (in a straight line). I know…
what to do about a an illegal right turn onto steeles from staines rd
got the ticket around october of last year
put it to trial
so there is a big mess of cars at this intersection and I see a cop outside standing directing traffic with a huge row of cars pulled over to the side, through…
Are any non-domestic vehicles "pursuit-rated" in North America? Also have the Michigan State Police (this is relevant because apparently they have the most accepted selection/testing process) tested any of them to see if they meet their criteria? Just curious...
Ottawa, Canada (AHN) - Beginning Tuesday, or April Fool's Day 2008, fines on Quebec drivers caught overspeeding will be doubled. It is not only the money penalty that will go up, but also demerit points.
The new law, Bill 42, is similar to Ontario's street racing rule. It stipulates fines for…
A friend got a ticket Jan. 9th of this year for doing 110 kph in a 90 kph zone, so 20 over.
What should the set fine and total payable read?
It's confusing to me, as the prescribed fine under HTA s.128 is different than the set fine enumerated by the Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice.
An OPP officer ticketed me claiming I was going 40km/h over the limit (140km/km) on my way home with a few friends on the 401. This is my first ever speeding offense. Although I am sure I was over the limit, I am almost certain that I was not going 40 over, more realistically closer to 30 over. The…
Yesterday night I was charged for stunt driving (excess over 50km/h) and I have a few inquiries. I'm sure you've all heard the same story, but the unmarked cop in an SUV was tailing me for a good 2-3 minutes as I was travelling 120~135 km/h. Then as he came close I decided to boot it up…
I had a speeding ticket in May 2013 which brought me to 9 demerit points out of 15. I received a letter and had to attend an interview. Due to a history of speeding tickets and a previous interview a few years prior, the interviewer decided to put me on zero tolerance for a year. Meaning if I…