Ontario Highway Traffic Act

Hi hwybear,

Thanks for your views in this thread.

In the end the charge was withdrawn.

After cross examination I moved the charges be dropped, based on being charged with the wrong infraction - should have been under HTA 163 and not 136. I originally thought the officer had to write it under 163 (1) (a) because the By-Law that established the ...

I'm going to repost in this thread....

Offence Descriptions and Testimony

As an example, being charged under OHTA 136 (1) (a) "Stop at Through Highway":

The ticket specifies the offence as "Disobey Stop Sign - Fail to Stop"

1) Where are these official offence descriptions specified?

Ticket states the Contrary To as "Highway Traffic Act ...

Hi hwybear,

where did the photo go? wanted to reference it again...

Not sure hwtbear...possibly the file hosting site took it down and it must not be stored on this site (www.OHTA.com).


****UPDATE *******
After clicking on the broken picture link ICON in the very first post of this thread. the picture has reappeared magically!

Bit strange ...

As an example, being charged under OHTA 136 (1) (a) "Stop at Through Highway":

The ticket specifies the offence as "Disobey Stop Sign - Fail to Stop"

1) Where are these official offence descriptions specified?

Ticket states the Contrary To as "Highway Traffic Act, section 136(1)(a)"

2) How do I know the offence description properly relates to ...

Hi racer,

Thanks for the comment.

I'm kind of by that point...have copies of the by-laws etc, but the issue is who mandates and controls stop signs at railway crossings?

The municipality doesn't have any By-Law section covering erection of signs at other than intersections. But I doubt there are any railway crossings controlled only by STOP ...

Hi hwybear,

We seem to be working questions and answers across a few different sub-forms and topics. That's good.

I realize my question probably wasn't specific enough, so here's a different approach:

1) Who has the responsibility and the authority to erect traffic controls at a railway crossing?
- There are 2 general types, active and passive ...

Reference is made in the HTA to Stop Signs at Railway Crossings (passive crossings):
HTA, 163 (2)
O Reg 615 (7)

However I cannot find specific regulation detailing how a railway crossing controlled by a stop sign must be configured.

The Ontario Traffic Manual, Book 11 - Markings and Delineation under section "3.9 Reserved Facility Markings ...

Thanks hwybear,

Good comments. I see by your reply that it would be difficulty to get information on a specific location.

Do you know of a "master database", or something similar for tickets, apart from information that resides on each drivers abstract. I'm just wondering where all of this information is retained,...or if it is?

Appreciate your ...

How would someone go about finding the history (number and date) of tickets issued for an offense at a particular location.?

Say I was trying to establish that inadequate design of a stretch of road contributed to infractions of a section of the HTA?

Could I ask for this information under disclosure? Would I be likely to get it?

What authority ...

Thanks for the response hwybear.

I wouldn't think that to be the case.

If O Reg 615 (7) were to be interpreted as you suggest, then the appropriate charge would be under HTA 163 (2) (stop sign at a railway crossing).

Reg. 63/06, s. 1. (the italicized part) was added to O Reg 615 to cover stop signs erected at railway crossings as opposed to stop ...

Changes to the consolidated Set Fine Schedules from Set Fine Orders or provincial Regulations

http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/ocj/en/s ... /index.htm

The amounts currently in effect are shown under "Affected Schedules (PDF)",
while the changes are shown under "Order".

So here's my current evaluation...

The charge was written as:
Offense: Disobey Stop Sign - Fail to Stop
Contrary to: Highway Traffic Act 136 (1) (a)

Which reads
136. (1) Every driver or street car operator approaching a stop sign at an intersection ,
(a) shall stop his or her vehicle or street car at a marked stop line or, if none, then ...

Thanks for your comprehensive response hwybear.

Just a short point here, didn't have time to do much further research...

If the railway crossing is not an intersection, then the only intersection is the one controlled by the yield sign (in this instance, as shown in the picture). The Hwy Traffic Act only authorizes municipalities to erect stop ...

Thanks for the replies lads. I agree with what you're saying.

Still, 163 (1) and (2) implies to me to be mutually exclusive - that a railway crossing would have either barriers/signals or a stop sign, not both. I don't ever recall seeing such a configuration other than in this region.

Vehicles required to stop at railway crossing signal

163. (1 ...

My wife was ticketed for not stopping at a stop sign. This is out of character, as she is a cautious driver, licensed for many years with drivers ed.

When discussing with her she said she only sensed she went through the sign after, because there is no highway intersection at the stop sign.

The configuration of signs and signals at this location ...