Improper use of high occupancy lane (on hwy 7) & fail to surrender licence

Hello everyone,

I was on uptown drive turning right to merge onto hwy 7, it was around 6pm and there were a lot of cars, it was a red light when I merged onto hwy 7, so I stopped on the HOV lane (right most lane on the road, instead of left most lane like on the highway) as there were no gaps for me to go into the lane to my left. The light turned green, but it was a gridlock and none of the lanes to my left were moving except the HOV lane that I was on. I did not want to stop there to wait for a gap while blocking the lane so I moved forward, and that was when a police officer started flashing his lights and pulled me over, and I was charged with improper use of HOV lane [HTA 154.1(3)] as I was the only person in the car. I tried to explain that I did not want to block the lane and was looking for a gap to merge left, but was told since I did no signal left during that process, he sees that I am simply using the HOV lane. The whole distance from where i got onto hwy 7 to where i was pulled over was roughly 80m.

I was also charged with fail to surrender licence [HTA 33(1)] as I had simply forgotten to bring it with me. The officer did find me to be a legitimate licence holder in his system, but charged me regardless.

What would be the best course of action in this case? How will these tickets affect my insurance?

On a side note, I did ask the officer what I should have done in this scenario, and was pretty much told that I should have been stationary and signal left to indicate that I intend to leave the HOV lane. I wonder would I have been charged for another offense, such as unnecessary slow driving, had I done that?

Thanks a lot.

You're in an awkward position because you were charged with two different offenses.

For now, let's just ignore whatever your defense may or may not be.

You're in an all or nothing situation. Let's say you have a valid argument and you successfully defend against one ticket. They are just going to ding you on the license.

On the flip side, you show them a valid license and they'll probably drop that for a guilty plea on the other.

You take different paths but end up at the same place.

As for insurance, they are both fall under the minor offense category. That means either ticket will be treated pretty much exactly the same. Although, multiple minor convictions will see your surcharge increase larger. Example, if one minor offense comes with a 5% surcharge, two may cost you 15%, three might be 25%.

bend wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 1:52 am

You're in an awkward position because you were charged with two different offenses.

For now, let's just ignore whatever your defense may or may not be.

You're in an all or nothing situation. Let's say you have a valid argument and you successfully defend against one ticket. They are just going to ding you on the license.

On the flip side, you show them a valid license and they'll probably drop that for a guilty plea on the other.

You take different paths but end up at the same place.

As for insurance, they are both fall under the minor offense category. That means either ticket will be treated pretty much exactly the same. Although, multiple minor convictions will see your surcharge increase larger. Example, if one minor offense comes with a 5% surcharge, two may cost you 15%, three might be 25%.

Thanks for your response.

As for having 2 tickets together, would it be at all advantageous for me to file the two tickets separately then? Does anybody have any knowledge if the court would attempt to check that if there was another ticket that was issued together?

I was searching through the forum, and saw from another thread that hwy 7 is apparently not included under the regulation for HTA 154.1(3). I am hopeful that I would have a good chance to have the HOV charge dismissed.

It makes me wonder if I am able to file the other ticket for trial separately, since the court would not look at me as if I had already had one ticket dropped, I may have a better chance of having 33(1) dropped?

jeffong_hk wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 4:10 am

I was searching through the forum, and saw from another thread that hwy 7 is apparently not included under the regulation for HTA 154.1(3). I am hopeful that I would have a good chance to have the HOV charge dismissed.

High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes regulation states that HOV lanes are the left most lane of the King's Highway. They are located on the 404, 403, 417, QEW and 403, 427, and 410.

I don't believe it's the correct charge. Those carpool lanes within the city usually on the right most lane are regulated by municipal bylaws. Maybe someone can confirm.

I also think the Highway 7 HOV lane would fall under either a York Region or City of Markham by-law.