Hello All

My son currently has his license suspended for too many demerit points (I know no sympathy here but that is besides the point) anyway he was riding with a friend and tossed his cigarette out the window. An officer who had been following them for about 5 minutes pulled them over and gave my son a ticket for littering. My son did not have any ID to give him as his license was suspended. My son gave him his name and birthdate. The officer found his license number in his system and wrote it on the ticket. He then handed the ticket to the driver not my son. What I want to know if he wrote his license number down does that mean it will go on his driving record even though he wasn't even driving at the time. And should the officer not have given the ticket directly to my son not the driver. The officer was asked why they were pulled over and the officer said "I don't need a reason to pull you over. I can check the status of the license of the driver" The officer proceeded to give the ticket and then call my son stupid.

anyway should we fight the ticket?

On the Provincial Offences Notice, see if he was ticketed under section 180 of the Highway Traffic Act.

Littering highway prohibited

180. Every person who throws or deposits or causes to be deposited any glass, nails, tacks or scraps of metal or any rubbish, refuse, waste or litter upon, along or adjacent to a highway, except in receptacles provided for the purpose, is guilty of the offence of littering the highway.

This HTA charge (which is what it sounds like he was charged with) doesn't have any demerit points associated with it, so it should not lengthen the licence suspension. The fine is $110, at least when last I checked. Also, the insurance companies really don't care too much about this kind of infraction. Not too sure about it going on the driver abstract; it is an HTA charge, I'd say it's quite possible.

I'd suggest fighting the charge. If you fight the charge, you could plea-bargain with the Prosecutor for a local/municipal by-law infraction if you want to go that route, I'd think. Depends on the Prosecutor. Usually the by-law infraction is less expensive, but the big plus is it won't go on the driver abstract if you're worried about that. That's one option. But... since the officer handed the PON to the driver and not your son, you might want to read this thread. Specifically look at ticketcombat's sentence, it's the second post on the thread:

http://www.ontariohighwaytrafficact.com/topic582.html

Hope this helps.

princer wrote:

The officer was asked why they were pulled over and the officer said "I don't need a reason to pull you over. I can check the status of the license of the driver"

Sounds like mis-communication somewhere. Whether it be from your son or the officer. Couple ways to put the reason:

- the passenger threw a cigarette out the window

- the passenger littered upon a highway

- checking to ensure the vehicle had a licenced driver