Hi,

As I was driving to work today (Exeter) a car signalled that it is turning left so I passed it on the right. (northbound at the Dashwood Industries) A cruiser was coming the other way and since I had the right side of the car on the unpaved road he proceeded to hand me a ticket. Did not even realize this was illegal... Oddly enough I find traffic cops have been very active over the last 3 years,(got 2 speeding tickets - 110 in 80) my road to work now takes extra 10 minutes (30% more time). Neeedless to say I had to slow down, and really hate this thing that is going on.

P.S. Any advice?

For now, here's the generic advice. At least if you prepare to fight the ticket in court, you've got more options available to you. Send in the ticket pleading not guilty, request a trial, and make a disclosure request. By the way, how long did it take for the officer to catch you? Did you note him turning around in your rear-view mirror or did he only catch up to you a considerable distance down the road?

Yes, I saw the cruiser doing the U-turn in the mirror... When I got all 4 wheels on the asphalt again, I must have been doing 40kph... That is when he showed-up. I then accelerated to about 95kph.(this is in an 80 zone) It is generally a bad sign when they do a U-turn behind you - so right of the bat I knew he was going to stop me. Sure enough, but... he followed at a distance for the next 8 maybe 10 seconds and then decided to catch up and stop me... Any idea what happened inside the cruiser within the 10s time frame?

The whole thing (from the time I passed the left turning car, to the time when I actually stopped) took no more then a minute.

I have not decided to go to court, yet... Been there with my last ticket - crossed a stop sign two years ago by no more then 3 feet on a T intersection, 20m away from my home. There was a chap in one of those clandestine cruisers blocking the view... I really lost it that time, got so mad I could hardly speak - and he was off course rubbing it in. Hired a lawyer and still lost...

Honestly... I do not think the traffic courts in London are much more then a rubber stamp service for the police. I had no idea that after increasing the cost of the road by roughly 50% (it is twice as wide with 'shoulders') the government in its infinite wisdom would declare half of it useless.

delay with the cruiser time (8-10 sec) is short.....I often wait for several minutes.....in that time I have my dispatch check the vehicle, owner to ensure who I am dealing with (ie...did they just do an armed robbery?) Then wait for a safe location to stop.

The govenment deciding to make changing from one road surface condition to another is a good thing. A lot of people wipe out even when dropping a tire off (pavement onto gravel) as they panic. This also prevents stone spray onto the other vehicle.

Wow 8-10 minutes.

What do you do if your following the guys exit comes up?

Would you get off and follow him to his house if it was close?

Wondering cause usually OPP HSD does 400 series highways so if you follow for a few mins calling the plates in, etc. Then what do you do if the person gets off? Follow? Or just make the stop turn the lights on and wait in the car until the driver is cleared, then approach???

Would make sense though, call in, if he or she gets off highway first safe place close to road stop them, wait for the reply for a few mins, when checked approach to confront driver.

I guess this begs the question regarding some of the speed trap operations you see. The officers will run out in front of a speeding car to flag it over, then they immediately approach the driver. Why step in front of a speeding car? You don't know anything about the driver. And then to immediately approach the vehicle without first checking to see if there's need for caution... I'm not a cop, but to me this seems a bit risky, no? Is there something I'm missing in this picture?

Anyway back to kris1's question. If you've already got two other tickets in the past three years, I'd fight this one, if for nothing other than to pleas-bargain to a municipal infraction or something of the sort. Your insurance company will definitely raise your rates after a third ticket. Which section of the Highway Traffic Act did he ticket you under?

tdrive2 wrote:

Wow 8-10 minutes.

What do you do if your following the guys exit comes up?

Would you get off and follow him to his house if it was close?.

I just keep following and yes have followed directly into a persons driveway before, no big deal.

hwybear wrote:

tdrive2 wrote:

Wow 8-10 minutes.

What do you do if your following the guys exit comes up?

Would you get off and follow him to his house if it was close?.

I just keep following and yes have followed directly into a persons driveway before, no big deal.

Wow, now Discount has competition, although if you are laying a S.172 it all makes sense....

Plea bargain you say... Well, what exactly would I ask for? Is there anything that does not carry demerit points (It says 150 (2) on the ticket - I assume it is 3 points).

I have seen the traffic court and realize they are after increasing the 'revenue', especially in light of the fact that most industry has moved out of Ontario... but what kind of an offense sounds similar, yet does not carry the 3 demerit points?

kris1 wrote:

Plea bargain you say... Well, what exactly would I ask for? Is there anything that does not carry demerit points (It says 150 (2) on the ticket - I assume it is 3 points).

I have seen the traffic court and realize they are after increasing the 'revenue', especially in light of the fact that most industry has moved out of Ontario... but what kind of an offense sounds similar, yet does not carry the 3 demerit points?

The Crown will make an offer to you (an offence of his choice) if he does not want the case to go to trial. You can ask for a lesser offence of your choice but its subject to the Crown's agreement.

That is why a disclosure request and preparation for trial will give you better leverage at the plea bargaining.