INSECURE LOAD TICKET - ANY IDEAS?

Got a ticket yesterday for "Insecure Load" contrary to HTA Sec 111(2). $160. I was pulling a utility trailer in which I had loaded a steel and wood cabinet. Total length of cabinet is 57.5". 14.75" (1/4 of the cabinet) was sticking out over the side of the trailer at about a 45 degree angle, the rest (3/4) was inside the trailer. The trailer has sides 24" high. I didn't have a tie-down or bungee or rope or anything and I was only going 5KMs. Any ideas?.

Proper loading

111 (2) No person shall operate or permit to be operated upon a highway a motor vehicle that carries a load or draws a vehicle that carries a load unless the load is loaded, bound, secured, contained or covered so that no portion of the load may become dislodged or fall, leak, spill or blow from the vehicle

Eddie57 wrote:

Got a ticket yesterday for "Insecure Load" contrary to HTA Sec 111(2). $160. I was pulling a utility trailer in which I had loaded a steel and wood cabinet. Total length of cabinet is 57.5". 14.75" (1/4 of the cabinet) was sticking out over the side of the trailer at about a 45 degree angle, the rest (3/4) was inside the trailer. The trailer has sides 24" high. I didn't have a tie-down or bungee or rope or anything and I was only going 5KMs. Any ideas?.

Did the loaded item fall from the trailer??? Did it look like it could fall from the trailer? How fast were you traveling and where??

Thanks hwybear, I did look up the relevant section of the HTA.

Thanks Reflections. Nothing fell off the trailer, and as far as I'm concerned it did not look like it might. I was travelling about 20 kph with my 4-way flashers on just so that any bouncing from bumps in the road were minimal, on a stretch of Yonge Street in Richmond Hill around 12:30PM on a Tuesday ... not too many cars/traffic.

Eddie57 wrote:

Thanks hwybear, I did look up the relevant section of the HTA.

Thanks Reflections. Nothing fell off the trailer, and as far as I'm concerned it did not look like it might. I was travelling about 20 kph with my 4-way flashers on just so that any bouncing from bumps in the road were minimal, on a stretch of Yonge Street in Richmond Hill around 12:30PM on a Tuesday ... not too many cars/traffic.

Still a major route, moving slow, with unstrapped cargo...... you might as well yell "Donut Sale"........

Reflections wrote:

.. you might as well yell "Donut Sale"........

Did someone call ??

8 hours late...think Bear needs to go back to OPC.

Mmm.... donuts....

Reflections wrote:

Still a major route, moving slow, with unstrapped cargo......

Toronto Police would've also slapped on an unnecessary slow driving ticket. In that case, could come up with a defence to one or the other, but not both at the same time, given the scenario.

Eddie57, did the officer inspect the load and check to see if it could be dislodged? Have you been in similar situations before, as in, have you loaded things like that and know from that experience that they won't dislodge or fall out? (Helps in court, if it gets that far.)

You could try plea-bargaining to a lesser offence. See if there is a municipal by-law infraction they could offer you. Fighting it is a little harder, because it will likely come down to your word versus the officer's, but you might be able to win.

Pending what type of vehicle was pulling the trailer. Black lettered licence plates will fall into this.....

Application of Part

4. This Part applies to commercial motor vehicles for which each of the gross vehicle weight, registered gross weight, manufacturers gross vehicle weight rating and gross combination weight rating is 4,500 kilograms or less. O. Reg. 363/04, s. 4.

Securement of load

5. (1) A load carried on a commercial motor vehicle on a highway must be secured by means of,

(a) sides, sideboards or stakes and rear stakes, endgate or endboard that,

(i) are securely attached to the vehicle,

(ii) are strong enough and high enough to ensure that the load will not shift on or fall from the vehicle, and

(iii) have no opening large enough to permit any of the load to pass through;

(b) at least one tiedown that meets the requirements of subsection 2 (1) for each 3.04 linear metres of lading or fraction thereof, and as many additional tiedowns that meet the requirements of subsection 2 (1) as are necessary to secure each part of the load, either by direct contact between the load and the tiedown or by contact between the load and dunnage; or

(c) any other means that prevents a load from shifting or falling that is similar to and at least as effective as the means specified in clause (a) or (b). O. Reg. 363/04, s. 5 (1).

(2) A tiedown or dunnage in contact with exterior, topmost items of a load and securely holding each interior and lower item shall be deemed to comply with the requirements for contact in clause (1) (b). O. Reg. 363/04, s. 5 (2).

(3) If the load may shift in transit, the load must be blocked, restrained or contained in such a manner that it will not shift in a forward direction when the vehicle decelerates at a rate of six metres per second per second or more and must be,

(a) securely blocked or braced against the sides, sideboards or stakes of the vehicle; or

(b) secured by devices that conform to the requirements set out in clause (1) (b) or (c). O. Reg. 363/04, s. 5 (3).

Thanks all for the input.

Personal vehicle (my Jeep) was pulling the trailer.

Been hauling things all my life but not commercially. Have always "secured" items, even covering with tarps .... just this 1 time .... . So I have reasonable experience.

Was York Regional cop since I'm in Richmond Hill - black stealth cop car at that. Didn't really check it out - just a quick looksee. After he handed me the ticket he asked if I had anything to tie the cabinet with. Since I'd just cleaned out the Jeep (I always carry all kinds of stuff in it), the only thing I had was a bandanna which I "dress" up the steering column with. The cop spotted it and said "what about that?". So I took it and tied in onto the cabinet and the trailer as the cop pulled a U-turn and drove off. That tells me he wasn't all that concerned.

Well he might not show up for trial, but the info I have on the York Regional Police is that they tend to show up about 60% of the time or so. A plea-bargain could save you some dough, and I think you have some room to bargain here. Even if you get convicted, the insecure load doesn't net demerit points. I can't say for sure how it will affect your insurance in that case.

If you want a line of defence here, the best thing I can come up with is this: Basically emphasize you loaded it so it wouldn't dislodge, drove in a manner that wouldn't dislodge it as an added precaution, you know the route well and since you've been hauling stuff all of your life, you have prior experience that tells you this would've been safe and posed no risk to anyone. You can also state that you checked and verified it, and since the officer just did a "quick look-see," he didn't verify for himself that it was improperly loaded. Note that the law doesn't require it to be bound if it's "loaded" so it won't dislodge or fall. They could argue you were driving slowly to compensate for a possible improper load, but they didn't ticket you for slow driving. Not sure if it will work or not... Can't promise anything.

Eddie57 wrote:

Personal vehicle (my Jeep) was pulling the trailer.

Been hauling things all my life but not commercially. .

Thats a major misconception.....personal vehicle means absolutely nothing...it is either the plates are black lettered or not!

Well... I guess if the plates are black-lettered the defence I thought of is out the window for sure!

Thanks both. Plates are NOT black-lettered. The suggested defence ideas are great - along the lines of what I was thinking.

Just got my court date, Dec 22/09. Any more input / ideas?? I'll post how I make out.