Unsafe Left Turn- No Collision. Any Help Apreciated

Hello,

Offense date: July 8, 2013

Received Notice of Trial : October 30, 2013

Notice of Trial Mailed to me: October 22, 2013

Trial Date : November 22, 2013

Charged with : Unsafe/TRN/LNE CHN-FL To Signal

Highway act section 142 (1)

It was the day we had the record rainfall and floods etc. in Toronto in July. It was pouring and very, very poor conditions.

I was stopped at a stop light and began to make my left turn with caution (because of the conditions) when the light turned green( i signaled) going north. I noticed a car coming quite fast at and through the intersection speeding, he also had his right turn signal on before the intersection, but never turned. All that happened was the car honked and he did not slow down... i did not swerve, he did not swerve, he did not slam on his breaks and i did not brake either, he did not come close to hitting me. A police car was opposite me and two lanes to my right.

The officer himself said "do you know why i stopped you... the car was going at a clip" etc. (his car)

The officer was clearly a new officer with an experienced partner, because he asked him several questions.

oh in addition, i did not realize my permit sticker had expired...(my fiance usually takes care of this) so i was charged with this as well. I have a very clean driving record.

My questions are as follows:

1. He said he was video taping and recording. How do i get a copy of both the video and recording?

2. It wasnt an unsafe turn if the guy was not speeding (officer even said he was going at a clip) in terrible conditions, and he didn't even come close to hitting me. I was not speeding. Nothing would have happened if he weren't speeding, in addition, he never made his right turn. Is that really an unsafe turn? What is deemed safe or unsafe? Is this a worthy defense?

3. They did not give me very much time to request, receive and prepare for the trial. Only gave me 4 weeks between when they mailed the notice and the trial date. Is that normal? What should i do if anything?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

bigmusky wrote:1. He said he was video taping and recording. How do i get a copy of both the video and recording?

Request a trial, receive your Notice of Trial, and request disclosure. If there is video evidence, it will be provided with your request.

bigmusky wrote:2. It wasnt an unsafe turn if the guy was not speeding (officer even said he was going at a clip) in terrible conditions, and he didn't even come close to hitting me. I was not speeding. Nothing would have happened if he weren't speeding, in addition, he never made his right turn. Is that really an unsafe turn? What is deemed safe or unsafe? Is this a worthy defense?

It's a unsafe turn because he has the right of way and you don't. You can't prove any of the other details. If you plan on using the officers description of the other vehicle as a defense, his words don't say much. Someone moving at a good amount of speed doesn't mean they're speeding, it could just mean they're moving at a good amount of speed should there have been an accident. Maybe he was giving you a hint to be more careful, who knows.

bigmusky wrote:3. They did not give me very much time to request, receive and prepare for the trial. Only gave me 4 weeks between when they mailed the notice and the trial date. Is that normal? What should i do if anything?

You request disclosure as soon as possible. If it can't be provided in time or it's provided too close to your court date, your trial is most likely be adjourned to another date to give you time to prepare.

If you're not requesting anything, JP might not find it necessary to give you more time than you've already been given.