A few weeks back, I received a speeding ticket on Highway 20 near Montmagny. The officer asked if I spoke French. I said “no.” All he said then was, “you were speeding.”

He left without telling me specifically how fast I’d been going. He returned with a ticket for driving 133 km/hr in a 100 km zone. The ticket was in French, which I do not speak. He told me I could request a translation, but left before I could ask any questions.

I couldn’t understand how I could go that fast. To do 133 km, the needle on my speedometer would be straight up, and I hadn't been anywhere near that since we left Chicago ten days earlier. Plus, I’ve been driving since 1967, and I’ve never had a speeding ticket.

So, I carefully exited my car and went back to his to tell him that I couldn’t understand how I could be going so fast. He was very dismissive and said, “You were going 133 km!” I wanted to ask him how he could be so sure (radar, etc.), but he stared straight ahead and wouldn't acknowledge me.

From the time we left Edmundston that morning, and all the way to Quebec City, numerous cars with Quebec license plates passed me by. Right before I got the ticket, two cars went roaring by me. I thought the officer was going after one of them. I might have been speeding slightly, but it was no more than 4 or 5 km, and that was to avoid being rear-ended.

I spoke to the front desk at my Quebec hotel Everyone urged me to contest the ticket. I called the proper authority and followed his directions. I'm told that I'll receive a response in six to eight months.

Two questions after all of this: has anyone successfully contested a moving violation in Quebec? And, does anyone know if Quebec reports tickets to Illinois? I was told they do to New York and Massachusetts, but that was all the fellow knew.

ps: While I spotted 2 or 3 squad cars along highways in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and, to that point, in Quebec, I didn't see anyone pulled over on the Trans Canada before me. Later, on the way home, we saw 3 cars (each about two miles apart) stopped in Ontario.