Careless Driving for Passing a Transport Truck

Hi Everyone,

Today I received two tickets from the OPP. The first was for Careless Driving, and and the other for Speeding. I have been driving for almost two years now, and this is my first offense. I am very inexperienced in these circumstances, please help with any advice. Here is my story:

I was driving down Highway 69 just south of Sudbury, it was one lane going each way. When it was legal to pass a transport truck in front of me, I attempted to do so. As I was making the pass, the truck accelerated and started to close the gap between himself and the car in front of him.

The road lines appeared to be double lined up ahead, as a bend in the road was coming up. By this point I was in front and to the left of the truck. There was hardly space to merge in front of him, and the spot I had behind him was now filled with other cars. Ahead of me, cars were starting to come from around the bend. I was trapped.

There was just enough room to merge in front of truck, which I did after waiting as long as possible for him to give me space. I slid in without making him slow down or react in any way. Incoming traffic passed by within 3 seconds of me getting back in, and the road lines were double lines (no passing allowed) by now.

The truck driver must have been very angry with me, as he began tailgating me for the next few hundred meters. I was shaken up by the previous events, and now terrified by how close he was following me. Once the highway opened up to two lanes, I sped up to get away from him.

The speed limit was 90, and I made it up to 114 before I had distance from the truck. I checked in my rear view mirror to see an OPP vehicle drive up behind me, no lights flashing. 10 seconds later he turned on his lights and I pulled over.

The OPP officer gave me two tickets, and didn't inform me of much. He never confirmed that he saw me do anything except speed, but I assume he was a few cars behind me when I passed the truck earlier. He said I swerved in front of the truck erratically and almost made the truck pull over or cause an accident. I was really nervous so I just kept saying "OK", letting him speak his piece. I then explained my side of the story but he didn't care. He handed me the tickets and left.

This offense will equal 9 points and $600 in fines if I don't fight it. I feel the circumstance is enough that I can fight it and at least get it reduced. However, I have no knowledge about how this works, and what I should do. I'm a G2 driver with my full G test scheduled in September, so the charges are even more extreme for me.

Please help. Thanks

Next time you get pulled over don't try to explain anything to the officer as you might have incriminated yourself.

Start by requesting a trial date indicate you want to challenge the officers evidence at trial, when you get the date, ask for disclosure to see what the evidence against you is and post it here.

Take your full G test in September as scheduled.

When you get multiple tickets from the same incident, the demerit points are only applied for the conviction with the greatest number of demerit points. So if you were convicted as is, youd get 6 points for the careless charge and none from the speeding.

Regardless, careless is one charge you dont want to be convicted of. It will have significant insurance implications. At the very least youll want to plead it down to a less serious offence.

Prosecutor may drop the careless if you plead guilty to the speeding if they feel sorry for you being a new driver with a clean record. Get your G license before you go to court or your license will be suspended for 30 days for getting a 4 point or higher ticker as a novice driver.