“Failing To Report Accident Ticket”

Hi

I got a failure to report sec 199 (1) ticket

I hit a pole while backing up. It was a rental car and i didnt know exactly what todo

so i went home and called TD rental car insurance. they said to call the rental company also. so i did that. rental company said to call police

so i did that and police asked me to back to crime scene. so i did that and met officer at the parking lot where i hit the pole and he gives me a ticket.

i am going to court and so i got the legal disclosure and police ticket and police officer notes say accident hapenned at 2pm and i reported it at 9pm. This is not true at all. I hit at 7 pm and reported at 9pm. so bascically police officer is lying in his report.

any help would be gratefull. also how can i prove that i hit at 7 pm ? there were really no witnesses. can my wife be a witness ?

thanks

That's a big allegation to say that an officer is lying in notes. Unlikely seeing as how it could be a career ending action on his part. More likely is that is the information he has or it is an error. Is there any information in the notes to say how he determined the collision took place at 2 pm. He will have to testify to how he made that determination. You will be able to testify that it was later.

Do you have any witnesses that saw you between 2 and 7 with an undamaged car or that you were elsewhere at 2 pm ?

One of the first questions you would ask the officer during cross examination is "Why did you say that the collision took place at 2pm? Where/how did you get that information?". You will need to question the officer around this point and try and get him to say why he said 2pm. Remember when you cross-examine the officer, this is NOT the time to tell your side of the story... this is the time to question officer as much as possible about everything they just said while on the witness stand.

After cross examination, you will get on the witness stand to give your side of the story and will just tell it like it is.

When you are done on the witness stand, then the JP will ask for your closing comments. Prosecutor goes first, then you will have to point out how you did report it to police as soon as you realized you should, and also note that it occured at 7pm not 2pm and that the officer (for whatever reason they said when you questioned them) was misinformed about the time of the occurence.

@jsherk

so the officer wrote in report that I TOLD HIM i had the accident at 2pm. this is also not true i did not say that. i think i said the accident was done 2 hours ago and he misunderstood it as 2pm rather than 2 hours ago.

also when i called police to report the accident, i told them the accident took place at 7pm. but ofcourse i dont have record of that either.

only witness is my wife that saw me during 2pm and 7pm. can i ask my wife to be a witness ? other than that, no real witness.

my main proof is that i came back at home around 7.09 pm and called the insurance and rent companies. if my accident was at 2pm, i would not take that long to call them.

@argyll

i wont say he is lying. i will say he made a big mistake in that he wrote and thought the accident took place at 2pm when it was actually at 7pm

so the officer wrote in report that I TOLD HIM i had the accident at 2pm ( and that is how he determined the accident took place at 2pm) .

but this is also not true i did not say that. i think i said the accident was done 2 hours ago and he misunderstood it as 2pm rather than 2 hours ago.

also when i called police to report the accident, i told them the accident took place at 7pm. but ofcourse i dont have record of that phone conversation either.

the only witness who saw me with undamaged car is my wife. can i call her as witness ? and if yes, what do i have to do ? (just take her along with me to court ?)

Well if it's a misunderstanding then you might be okay, but again you will need to grill the officer during cross-examination with questions like "Is it possible I said 2 hours ago and you misunderstood that as 2 oclock?".

The other thing I would do is find out if your call to the police was recorded and try to get a copy of the recording if available.

Your wife could be a witness. Was your wife with you at the accident? Or what is the last time she saw you and the car with no damage?

Also did you call her around when it happened as she could testify that you called her around X o'clock and told her you just hit a pole.

The phone call will have been recorded. I would put that in your list of things for disclosure. You may well not get it but at least you can show you asked for it.

If you hit the pole at 7:00pm and made your calls at 7:09pm why are you saying you reported it at 9:00pm in your original post. Can you clarify please.

@argyll

oh i meant to say, i made the first call at 7.09pm (to TD insurance) then discount and then police and all this process took me around 2 hours (around 9pm) when i reported to police

The Act says "199. (1) Every person in charge of a motor vehicle or street car who is directly or indirectly involved in an accident shall, if the accident results in personal injuries or in damage to property apparently exceeding an amount prescribed by regulation, report the accident forthwith to the nearest police officer and furnish him or her with the information concerning the accident as may be required by the officer under subsection (3)"

There is no definition of forthwith in the Act but there is this definition:

"Forthwith" means "immediately" or "without delay": Canadian Oxford Dictionary (2nd ed. 2004), at p. 585

So strictly speaking you did not report it forthwith and your lack of knowledge that you had to is, of course, no defence. Having said that at least you ended up calling the police as opposed to them having to find you and the time delay of two hours (if you can establish that) excludes the likelihood that you were hammered and drove away to sober up. A prosecutor on a good day might accept all of that. They will be interested in the time delay between the first call to TD and the last call to police....were you on the phone on hold for those 2 hours or were you not being as diligent as you might have been.

This is a significant charge as insurance companies tend to view it that there was a reason you failed to report, ie impaired.

thanks all for your input

went to court and procesution withdrew the case

main reason was that even though police made mistake on time, 2pm accident reported at 9pm is mostly considered reported on time