Essentially I screwed up.

I was going east driving straight towards a red light.

I stopped at the light and waited. The north/south lights turned red and I drove, before my light changed green. I'm not sure why.

Of course, there was a police car right behind me and he pulled me over.

Honestly, I don't recall going through a red light (in my mind it was green) but I could be wrong and I understand that's not a defense. The officer said he had it on camera.

I was given a $180 ticket for "red light - fail to stop."

Do I have any defense here?

Is it worth fighting or should I just pay it?

If the officer did have it on camera and you did go through the red, there really isn't a defence unless there were extenuating circumstances, like unexpected brake failure, duress, etc. If you decide to fight it, they should disclose the camera evidence against you, so you could see for yourself.

You could always try to plea bargain to a lesser offence. The problem is, many Prosecutors in Ontario won't accept plea-bargains for this particular offence.

Seems like a wrong charge. You approached the intersection on red and "stopped". In my opinion a correct charge would have been Red Light - proceed before green.

Police video may help you to mount a defense.

Traffic Law wrote:

Seems like a wrong charge. You approached the intersection on red and "stopped". In my opinion a correct charge would have been Red Light - proceed before green.

Police video may help you to mount a defense.

X2

If the police video is missing from disclosure, all the more ammo to have the ticket stayed.

Check my thread that is a bit older than this.

I beleive you were charged the wrong amount on the ticket.. if you were indeed charged under the same section as me.

If so, you can attempt to get it quashed. but like I said, read my thread and you can follow along the same procedure as me.

donovan39 is right! Good post and good find Donovan!

The set fine for violating 144( 18 ) is $260, plus $60 victim surcharge, plus $5 court fee, up to a total of $325. If you were charged $180, then the set fine is wrong, and all you have to do is not pay the ticket. Alternatively, you can still file for court and not attend, to the same result - the JP should examine the ticket and throw it out due to it being "not regular on its face".

FYI, even the "Proceed before Green" carries the exact same set fine!

I was wondering if there was an update on the set fines for HTA 144[18] for a motorized vehicle.

Racer mentioned that the total fine should be $325 (set fine + victim surcharge + $5 court fee).

This website, http://fightyourtickets.ca/tickets/fine ... urcharges/, lists it as $180, which is my total too.

Can someone tell me what the updated fine is?

Thanks.

It is $325 total payable. It went up as of January 1. It should be:

Set fine = $260, Victim Surcharge = $60, Court Fee = $5, total $325.

The up-to-date set fine schedule can be found on the index at this link:

http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/ocj/en/s ... /index.htm

Click on "Highway Traffic Act" and it will show the set fine is $260 now. If it was issued after January 1, it should be quashed for improper fine.

Sorry, perhaps I should have mentioned that this ticket was handed out to me June 16 2009 and my scheduled court date is for April 28th 2010.

So does that mean the fine, at the time, is correct then?

Also, from the day the ticket was issued to the date my court date was set, is that a valid point to have my case dismissed (just over the 10 month time frame for a timely and fair trial)?

Thanks.

In that case, yes, your fine is correct. You're close to the "unreasonable delay of trial" point, but unfortunately not quite close enough to get the stay. 11 months is usually a comfortable margin. 10.5 months is the absolute minimum.

Thanks for the info, I do appreciate it.