Hello all:

n00b here but need some advice as to what to do next;

I was on my way home (3 minutes from getting there) around 6-7PM tonight when a cop ran into the road & flagged me down. I pulled over & was cited as doing 71 in a 50km zone (I always thought it was 60 KPH from the way most drivers go through that stretch)

This is Martingrove Road, NB, just before Steeles.

Anyhow, when the officer asked for my insurance he noticed the pink card was expired; I told him I was in fact insured as it was my vehicle but my wife & I had forgotten to put the card in the holder in the glove box.

On top of the $104 fine for speeding; he tagged another different ticket for $65 for failure to provide insurance card.

Can I fight this? I was told by the officer himself to set up a trial date. I'm willing to pay the fine for speeding but the $65 on principle I want to contest as I went home & found the card which does not expire until 2011, meaning I am insured.

Can I get any help here? I'm even thinking of going down to the local police station to go over any recourse I have here to get the $65 ticket thrown out or revoked or whatever term is used to get it removed.

Bottom line; if I do indeed go to trial on this a) do I need legal counsel, b) how to go about asking for disclosure, c) what is the deadline for paying the ticket? It says 15 days?

Any help & advice is greatly appreciated - sorry for all the questions but I'm a little overwhelmed by all this. Thanks in advance.

Bring the insurance card with you to court. Since this is your first offence, they'll likely be willing to negotiate with you, if you choose to go that route.

You do not need any legal counsel for this particular charge, however, if you are concerned or intimidated, you could hire a paralegal to take care of the negotiating for you. The paralegal would probably get disclosure of the Crown's case against you and review the officer's notes. If there is a reasonable prospect of being found not guilty, they'll go to trial; if not, they'll negotiate - possibly getting rid of the "fail to surrender insurance card" and lowering the speeding to 15-over. (I don't want to promise anytihng.) FYI, speeding 15 km/h over the limit, or less, is 0 demerit points. The odds of them cancelling the "failure to surrender insurance card" ticket if you go to the police station and show them a valid insurance card are, sorry to disappoint, very low.

Disclosure can be obtained by filling out a request and submitting it to the court clerk after you have received your Notice of Trial. You'll have to go to the courthouse to schedule the trial. You'll have to fill out a Notice of Intent to Appear (available on-line at http://www.toronto.ca/court_services/forms.htm) and bring your ticket with you.

The ticket can be paid within 15 days of receiving it, if you decide you do not want to fight either charge. But I'd recommend trying to get at least one of them dropped. For that, you'll need to pick option 3.