Ontariohighwaytrafficact.com

Following to close: no accident

This happened to me today. I'm guilty, was rushing home.

I'm 19, male, and have a G2

My question:

How will this affect my insurance and should I fight this

In short: 19 + G2 + traffic ticket = OMG MY INSURANCE IS INSANE!! There are only a couple of insurance companies that tend to be sympathetic to younger/inexperienced drivers who get tickets, but the overwhelming majority of them will drive your rates through the stratosphere, particularly for an offence such as following too closely.

Following too closely is something that needs an "affected driver," meaning the person you were tailgating. Without a collision, unless the officer managed to identify and name the affected driver (good luck with that), there's only a very tiny chance of the ticket standing up. Send the ticket in requesting a trial, along with a disclosure request. The disclosure request is where you can ask for the officer's notes and other evidence against you.

At trial (if it goes that far), you'd have to ask them: "Who/where is the affected driver?" The officer cannot be the affected driver. No affected driver, no case, no demerit points, no fine, no insurance increase. By the way where was the officer when s/he observed you "follow too close"?

Good luck with it!

THANK YOU!

I think I may have screwed myself over though! My mother told me I needed to pay off the fine online before I could fight it!! ARG! I think that just may have made me guilty!

The only two people on the road were ME AND THE OFFICER!

He pulled me over for "speeding" originally and said he would give me a following to close ticket!

Ok, I talked to the court - they said I could appeal for paying and basically claiming guilt.

Might take a little longer, but theres hope!

how could a speedy thing become a following-to-close? care to elaborate?

I will elaborate:

I was on a 3 lane road with me and police car in a 70 zone. We were both on the left hand lane and my right turn was coming up, I flicked to turn right and sped up a bit (maybe 80-85). I went to the right of the cop, then turned to go to the next right lane and as I looked back the cops lights were flashing and he asked me to pull over.

He yelled at me a bit and asked if I knew what the speed limit was, I told him ok I was speeding a little and I didn't want to argue. He went back, wrote the ticket and said hes going to give me "following to close" - and left.

I was sort of in a panic when I got home and my mom said to pay the ticket - dumb move now that I know how easy it would be to apply not guilty.

Moms ALWAYS want to pay quick because they're terrified of their babies getting in serious trouble with the law. My boys friend has a mother that claimed she would rather pay her son's extra insurance rate than to see him anywhere near a courthouse.

NEVER LET MOM'S GIVE ADVISE ON TICKETS! LOL. It's YOUR money and driving record at stake. You're old enough to learn how the system works and fight your own battles. It's just a lousy ticket... not like you're going to jail or anything! LOL

Truths, can't blame my mom though - its my fault for listening.

All I can say for the appeal (which is the truth) is that I thought I had to pay it off before pleading not guilty, it was my first time getting a ticket (been driving with a G2 for almost 3 years) and I wasn't sure of the procedure. I paid it off online so I still have the actual ticket, and I paid the thing off before the ticket was even put into the system! (I was told to wait a week before appealing)

Any other advice on preparing would be AWESOME!

But I think I'm set and know what needs to be done as of now.

you said 80-85......15 over ticket is way better then following to close IMHO. See if you can appeal, you may need paid expertise though

Paid expertise will be 500$ for the appeal, guess it would be best getting them for it.

Shameless update:

Got an appeal date for April 24th!

Good luck with that!

$500 is likely better than $100 paid monthly for 3 years...

Our court system is brutal......they allow appeals for everything and anything

hwybear wrote:

Our court system is brutal......they allow appeals for everything and anything

Even for a wrongful ticket...

Go to court, always, always.

The system is flooded anyways. They cant handle it all. The more people that go to court the worse it gets.

The whole system of traffic tickets depends on people paying.

The more people that go means they will have to do a few things. Give less tickets. Charge less so people actually pay and don't fight. Raise the limit.

If every single person took their ticket to court it would crumble.

But oh is ever so hard to ignore a nagging mother...

don't answer the phone....when you get the message press 33 to skip to the end.....7 to delete....mother ignored.......NEXT!

But what if she's right there in front of you? Too bad the MSN "Block this person" button doesn't work in real life.

Since it's your mom, I recommend "mute" or "stop nagging" buttons.

Although the "STOP WINGING" button is a little disconcerting. I'm picturing a devil-woman with wings (and not the good, honey garlic kind).

racer wrote:

hwybear wrote:

Our court system is brutal......they allow appeals for everything and anything

Even for a wrongful ticket...

Not about a wrongful ticket issue at all.

Once a person makes the decision with the option box it should be done.

Once a person does not show for court it should be done.

If the PON is NOT received within 15 days to the court it should be done.

tdrive2 wrote:

Give less tickets. Charge less so people actually pay and don't fight. .

I almost fell out of my chair on that

hwybear wrote:

tdrive2 wrote:

Give less tickets. Charge less so people actually pay and don't fight. .

I almost fell out of my chair on that

Maybe sounds funny, but it's actually true (I'm living proof). Most of my 20+ tickets were acquired during my rowdy teen/early 20's era (the 80's). The fines were quite manageable and my insurance rates never went up. The only time I fought tickets was when the officer was outright WRONG or if they treated me in a condescending fashion (I LOVED beating a cop that was a total pri*k on the side of the road).

Everything changed when I got a big insurance increase about 5 years ago for having two speeding tickets within 3 years. Then the provincial government waged war against "real drivers" in a manner that showed utter disrespect for the common commuter (stunt laws). Insurance companies jumped on the bandwagon, and it was quite obvious things had changed to a point where one must do what ever it takes to protect oneself from unreasonable policy.

That means fighting EVERY ticket. Figure out a way of getting back to the give-and-take way of the 70's/80's and I'd gladly pay the tickets

Well, like I said.

The whole thing was a mix up on my part!

I had no idea I didn't have to pay the ticket! That's why I'm appealing.

And again, when he pulled me over - he said it was for speeding! I agree I'm guilty for speeding but then we he came back - he gave me a follow to close?

I believe something about that is wrong, I'll tell the judge the truth as I know it and see where it goes from there.

Absolutely tickets cost so MUCH money now people fight everyone.

Every young person that gets a ticket goes to court.

Auto insurance is such a rip off in this province almost no one under 30 will even take the chance.

Regardless i think the fact that tickets now cost so much and can result in huge insurance prices people will not pay they will atleast try to fight it first.

If tickets were cheaper and didnt have such huge implications on your insurance more people would just pay the tickets.

I mean most people pay parking tickets. Who is going to try to fight a ticket for 40 or 60 $. The time you take off work for that wouldn't cover the cost of missing the whole day.

But if you get a ticket for a few hundred for going 135 on the 401 you bet they'll go to court, that's alot of money and they could face huge increases.

Got the appeal! Haha, now I get to fight the charge.