Hello All,

I was driving on 401 east right lane, and my left rear tire burst, causing the car to hit the right rail/ concrete wall along the high way.

OPP gave me a ticket for careless driving (490 dollars). Even though there was no other car involved, but bodily injury to the passenger.

Since its not my mistake, how should I contest the ticket.

Any suggestions ?

Thanks in advance...

I think it would be a difficult charge to prove if a blown tire was the actual cause of the accident. Are the tires on your vehicle in good shape? If you were driving on damaged or badly worn tires and ignored signs it was about to blow, they could possibly argue careless. Also if your driving was somehow inappropriate and caused the tire to burst, they could also argue careless. While it's possible to maintain control of a vehicle with a blown tire, it's an infrequent and sudden event and I think the Crown would have difficult proving you weren't acting with due care simply because a crash occurred afterwards.

You'll certainly want to request disclosure and see what the evidence against you is. It may also be worth hiring a paralegal since a careless driving conviction has serious implications with insurance rates. I'd say the majority of contested careless driving charges get plead out to something much less serious, but if the Crown has no chance of proving their case you may want to take your chances at trial.

Did they have any witnesses (other than yourself and passengers)?

Stanton wrote:

While it's possible to maintain control of a vehicle with a blown tire, it's an infrequent and sudden event .

The OP said it was a left rear blow out, very easy to control.

Although sudden, I have had many blow outs at varied of speeds (town, highway and priority response). Speaking of which, I had right rear blow out 8 days ago on a skinny curvy, bumpy, highway with minimal shoulder, heard a pop, felt car drop, so foot off gas and gradually slowed to a stop. Tire sidewall had blown out so was very sudden and tire didn't force the vehicle to go wildly out of control

I agree with you Hwybear, it usually is a pretty controllable event. I've had two blown tires, both on the highway and both were uneventful save for the wonderful experience of actually changing a tire on the shoulder of the 401. I think the big problem is most people don't know what to do, panic, and jam on the brakes and/or oversteer. I've got a feeling though that most JP's would give benefit of the doubt to the defendant in this type of situation since it is uncommon. Just my opinion though, never actually seen a case/defence of this type.

If you would like to prove that your tires are in good repair, take some pictures now and save them for trial. Just about any paralegal could win this outright, I think you too could win it outright with a little knowledge. Hire the paralegal thou.

hwybear wrote:

Stanton wrote:

While it's possible to maintain control of a vehicle with a blown tire, it's an infrequent and sudden event .

The OP said it was a left rear blow out, very easy to control.

I think it's the opposite. Rear wheels are important to keep the car in track and avoid spinning.

It's the front wheels that are easy to control in the case of problems, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8ieA0DZmN8

Start in 1:35