Looking for advice on stunt driving first court appearance

Hey there,

I recently got pulled over allegedly doing 151 in 100. My car was impounded and license suspended 7 days. I got summoned to court about a month a way. The ticket says driving motor vehicle stunt / 50 km or more. I was just wondering if anyone had any experience or what the chances of the ticket being reduced? And was wondering how do I ask about a plea deal with out making it look like I expect one.

I do terribly regret everything and have no intentions of speeding.

Tia

you wont get it reduced;

get a bref

Plead not guilty and request a trial. Once you get your notice of trial, then you can request disclosure (officers notes, speed measuring device manual). Once you get disclosure, post it here so we can review it.

After you get the disclosure you can ask for meeting with prosecutor prior to the trial to see if they will offer you a plea deal. If the prosecutor is in a good mood, they might drop it to Speeding 49 over. If they offer speeding 49 over then you should take that as it is only a MINOR offence on your insurance (small increase) versus Speeding 51 over or Stunt driving which are SERIOUS offences (huge increase).

Hi Neveragain9051,

My friend has just successfully had his stunt ticket reduced in Newmarket court......he had 55 over and prosecutor agreed to reduce it to 49, based on my friend's story the insurance will still be increased not because of the 49 (may or may not be because this offence) but because of the license road suspension.....

After my friend saw and showed to legal his disclosure he realized that the only thing to do is to ask for a reduction......he apologized, asked for reduction and got it.....

Hopefully you get it as well......I am not on the consulting side here, just as you having some problems but this story is exactly what my friend was a month ago.....so again hopefully you will be able to successfully reduce that.

by the way, Thanks again to jsherk to always answering and helping people.....

FYI: The road side suspensions should NOT count against your insurance at all because it is an administrative penalty.

interesting, before my friend had a trial obviously he wasnt convicted, however , while he was waiting, he had his insurance renew and so it went up.....he contacted them and they said that this is because of the license that was roadside suspended......maybe he didnt understand something or maybe I am wrong......sorry anyways if I made a mistake by writing this.....thanks lord its not my story:-) but I will call him today and ask....

There are many factors the prosecutors consider before agreeing to lower the rate of speed down...an increase in the insurance rates is not one of them...they are well aware of the fact that the insurance premium will increase, exponentially. They will consider, how much over the 50km they were going, time of day, other aggravating factors and most importantly, what the driver's record is like...in this case, only being a tad over the 50, and if the driver has a fairly clean record, you will most likely get a reduction...I would go talk to the prosecutor first before hiring a paralegal who will just go talk to the prosecutor and request the same deal...

I'd agree with screeech. They'll take a look at the situation. Doing 190 in an 60 is one thing, 151 in a 100 is another. If you haven't pulled this kind of stunt before, i'd imagine they might drop it to 49 and under. While it was still stunt driving, it wasn't enough for the police to put out a blurb for the newspapers.

Your summons is just an appearance. If they offer you anything below 50, i'd take it and run. Anything below 50 and you might not even notice an insurance increase. Anything 50 and over and you'll pay 100% on top of what you're paying now.

alexu wrote:

interesting, before my friend had a trial obviously he wasnt convicted, however , while he was waiting, he had his insurance renew and so it went up.....he contacted them and they said that this is because of the license that was roadside suspended......maybe he didnt understand something or maybe I am wrong......sorry anyways if I made a mistake by writing this.....thanks lord its not my story:-) but I will call him today and ask....

Insurance providers can't raise your rates based on a 7 day administrative suspension. I'm sure some may try, but they're not allowed. You'd have to be suspended for over a year before your provider can even submit a form to the Financial Services Commission of Ontario justifying an insurance hike. Even then it's not automatic.

I've never seen an abstract with an administrative suspension, but I don't believe they reveal any details regarding why it's there. You can get an administrative suspension for a number of things, including something medical.

Thanks for all the info,

I have court in the middle of July and I will keep an update.

I do have two prior speeding tickets 2011 15/km and 2015 15km is that really going to look bad on me ?

Do they mention the prosecuter in the first appearance or do I have to mention it?

Thanks again for all the info stressing over here

whilst I understand, the whole jist

it's not a tad over 50, (and I get what your saying)

it's 51 "over" the speed limit

so he wasn't just over the limit, he had the pedal to the metal and was "booting" it

screeech wrote:

There are many factors the prosecutors consider before agreeing to lower the rate of speed down...an increase in the insurance rates is not one of them...they are well aware of the fact that the insurance premium will increase, exponentially. They will consider, how much over the 50km they were going, time of day, other aggravating factors and most importantly, what the driver's record is like...in this case, only being a tad over the 50, and if the driver has a fairly clean record, you will most likely get a reduction...I would go talk to the prosecutor first before hiring a paralegal who will just go talk to the prosecutor and request the same deal...

so not just doing a "tad" over the stunt, been done for speeding twice,

serial speeder with a record, IMHO he wont get a reduction

I do remember seeing 2 things from here

1> stunt etc; generally you can't get a reduction, so it's a trial only option

2> Serial speeders also don't get reductions

again that's what I thought I've seen here, of course you can get lucky

Neveragain9051 wrote:

I do have two prior speeding tickets 2011 15/km and 2015 15km is that really going to look bad on me ?

Bobajob is incorrect... From what I concluded through the vast amount of research I did when I had the same charge, the stunt charge almost always gets reduced to 49 over providing you had a clean record before the charge and you're about 50-55 over the limit.

This is obviously not a guarantee nor legal advice, just what I've observed and experienced myself. I'm not sure how your two previous infractions will play into this, but either way I would definitely see the prosecutor yourself before hiring a paralegal. If he doesn't offer you anything, then consider legal aid. Also keep in mind they are certainly not obligated to give you any kind of break, so be kind and very apologetic.

The mentality has changed over the last couple years. The attention Stunt Driving once received has cooled down a bit. When they first started, I don't remember anyone being offered a reduction. If it was offered, it was certainly wasn't a common occurrence. These days, it's typical to hear about drivers being offered a reduction with anything close to the 50 mark. It's also dependent on your past driving history. I don't think one minor speeding offense would sway them one way or another, but when you start adding them up, who knows.

he "has" 2 speeding convictions.

did you not read that bit ?

He also didn't mention that in his opening, although he did say

"I do terribly regret everything and have no intentions of speeding. "

So 3 in total; that makes him a serial speeder. Am I missing something?

HTA25 wrote:

Bobajob is incorrect... From what I concluded through the vast amount of research I did when I had the same charge, the stunt charge almost always gets reduced to 49 over providing you had a clean record before the charge and you're about 50-55 over the limit.

This is obviously not a guarantee nor legal advice, just what I've observed and experienced myself. I'm not sure how your two previous infractions will play into this, but either way I would definitely see the prosecutor yourself before hiring a paralegal. If he doesn't offer you anything, then consider legal aid. Also keep in mind they are certainly not obligated to give you any kind of break, so be kind and very apologetic.

I have more than 3 speeding tickets, and I still get roadside reductions (sometimes even warnings). Stuff happens, people make mistakes, that's just life. Not to mention the OP has 3 speeding tickets in 5 years, so personally I wouldn't consider that a serial speeder. If you had 3 speeding tickets in 6 months, that's another story. As for the OP, I've heard stories of guys who got clocked at 70+ over the speed limit and got reduced to 49 over, so it's highly likely your 51 over would be reduced to 49 over.

bobajob wrote:

he "has" 2 speeding convictions.

did you not read that bit ?

He also didn't mention that in his opening, although he did say

"I do terribly regret everything and have no intentions of speeding. "

So 3 in total; that makes him a serial speeder. Am I missing something?

Yes, I clearly read that part... did you read my response in full? I said: "I'm not sure how your two previous infractions will play into this, but either way I would definitely see the prosecutor yourself before hiring a paralegal."

I'm not convinced that two prior tickets for 15km over in the last 5 years labels one a "serial speeder," but in any case that's up to the prosecutor. Instead of offering a reduction to 49 over, the prosecutor may simply drop the stunt driving charge and charge 51km over under S128... In any case, OP should definitely talk to the prosecutor themselves before spending money on a paralegal.

Thanks again for all the info ; I am

New at this

1) how often do they offer a deal at first summons ?

2) if they offer a deal can I still ask for disclosure?

3) court is in one week thanks for the help

Did you get a NOTICE OF OFFENCE or a SUMMONS? These are different.

Offering a deal is completly up to the prosecutor, so there is no "how often" to when they do or do not do it.

If it is a SUMMONS date (which is not your trial date yet) then you can see if the prosecutor offers you a plea deal. Once they have offered you something, you can then say "Can I view the disclosure before I decide whether to take the plea deal?" They might say yes or no to this request.

It is the summons. Is the prosecutor the one that I will talk to first ?

Yes. You will check in when you get there, and tell them you want to talk to prosecutor before court starts.

At a SUMMONS date, you can:

1- Just plead guilty and it's over (not recommended).

2- If offered a plea deal, you can plead guilty to plea deal offer and it's over.

3- If offered a plea deal, you can ask if you can see disclosure before you accept the plea. If they say yes, then great (they will set another summons date). If they say no, then you need to decide whether to accept gulty plea now, or request a trial.

4- Say you want to see disclosure before you decide how to plead. In this case they will se another summons date for you come back to (which is still not the trial date).

5- Say you are going to plead not guilty and request disclosure and a trial date. In this case they will set an actual TRIAL date for you to come back.

Hi OP, any updates on your case?

I believe at the ER; they can tell when your last conviction was; from "somewhere" I saw something like a figure of only if clean in the last 3 years of driving, they will reduce it

(I can't remember) perhaps if it still shows on the abstract that still applies.

A total 3 speeding "events" in 5 years is a lot. I've been booked for speeding only once in 8 years (in this country) and NEVER in the UK, (25+ years driving)

Had other tickets but no speeding fines. Lucky or just a safe driver? Pass

I guess if you look at a driving record and the only times a person has been done, has been for speeding, I guess, that Mister Leadfoot is traditionally a fast driver?

Tickets stay on the insurance for 5 years (in this country) so again 2 / 3 IS a lot.

Same analogy if the person getting booked, is only getting booked for DUI, over a period of time; gotta suspect the guy has an intolerance to alcohol.

HTA25 wrote:

bobajob wrote:

he "has" 2 speeding convictions.

did you not read that bit ?

He also didn't mention that in his opening, although he did say

"I do terribly regret everything and have no intentions of speeding. "

So 3 in total; that makes him a serial speeder. Am I missing something?

Yes, I clearly read that part... did you read my response in full? I said: "I'm not sure how your two previous infractions will play into this, but either way I would definitely see the prosecutor yourself before hiring a paralegal."

I'm not convinced that two prior tickets for 15km over in the last 5 years labels one a "serial speeder," but in any case that's up to the prosecutor. Instead of offering a reduction to 49 over, the prosecutor may simply drop the stunt driving charge and charge 51km over under S128... In any case, OP should definitely talk to the prosecutor themselves before spending money on a paralegal.