Speeding Ticket help in BC

Old Aug 10, 2005, 7:31 pm
  #31  
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Exclamation Unsolicited insight on tix in Buffalo NY and I-290

They look for Canadian plates on I-290 because you are likely to pay the ticket, not because you are the fastest one they see - so watch out. But if you don't you will be stopped. The guy is there every day. Don't be distracted by the Cellino and Barnes billboards - they don't want your case anyway. If you get a ticket there, I was told to challenge it in court and the DA will make a plea bargain every time. He offers a parking charge instead - really, before going in. I was told this when I mentioned to a local that my wife had I ticket and I paid it. "That was not a good idea - you just get in line and talk to the DA." I thought DAs deal with murder and drug cases, based on watching TV. See what I learned. In Buffalo they negotiate with American speeders.
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Old Aug 10, 2005, 8:30 pm
  #32  
 
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OK, my source says:

Speed info is not necessary, the lack of this will not invalidate a ticket.

The lack of info on registered owner may or may not be an issue (normally it would at least say 'as above' if you are the registered owner). The officer's supervisor (sergeant or whatever) should be reviewing all tickets, he or she would have the option to advise the issuing officer that the ticket was improperly completed and tell them to cancel it. So, sometimes best to wait and see....

The second review would be at the court level if you dispute. The court can also determine the ticket has been improperly completed.They can also hear the circumstances (your first ticket in 18 years, good driving record, only speeding to overtake a slow-moving vehicle while a passing lane was available, etc) and agree to reduce or cancel the fine.

There are some changes planned in such tickets by the Solictor General's office, because police spend too much valuable time in court for small tickets. And of course, many people know they will not show up for some traffic tickets when busy or on vacation, etc. The plan is to allow you to dispute by mail and/or with an adjudicator or JP, simplifying the process and this would not require you to travel back to Williams Lake. A call to the local traffic court at the courthouse would give you some info on whether this process is being implemented in the Williams Lake region or not.

Basically, I am told you should wait until you are advised by mail that your ticket is outstanding (if you wish to dispute it). They should advise what options of dispute are open to you at that point. If they implement the new system, you should be able to respond by mail and outline the circumstances of your dispute, rather than having to travel back to the issuing court's jurisdiction (and it no longer would matter whether the issuing officer is present or not).

If the ticket stands:

You will get demerit points assessed for the speeding ticket.

The demerit points will not affect your insurance at this point at all. You have to accumulate more than 3 in one year before it affects insurance, I think it is 5 points. And if you dispute the ticket, you can also dispute any increase in insurance premiums. (But I don't think this will be an issue for you.) Give ICBC a call or check their web site for more details (are you based in BC and using ICBC?).

And as airbus320 said, Williams Lake should be cattle country. But of course they are not used to flying bovines. Even if you do less of that than you used to! You probably just took them by surprise.

But taupo may have further suggestions or info....???

Last edited by Abby; Aug 10, 2005 at 8:37 pm
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Old Aug 10, 2005, 9:23 pm
  #33  
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Abby,

Thank you very much to both you and your source. Please tell them I appreciate all of their info and your time to investigate and type up your post.

Do you know by chance IF the ticket is canceled would I be notified of this or would it be up to me to find out?

Again, thanks for your help

BTW, I live in Calgary and that is where my drivers license was issued
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Old Aug 10, 2005, 10:23 pm
  #34  
 
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everyone makes mistakes

Originally Posted by UPS6009
Being that you were pulled over by probably a highway patrol RCMP member, do you really thing he filled out the ticket wrong. All that member does each day is.. write tickets. You sped, and broke the law, fess up and pay the consequence. That big number on the sigh does not say "Anywhere in the neighborhood of 90 Km/h"
Radar or not RCMP members are trained in vehicle speed estimation and they're word and judgment holds up in court. Luckily he reduced the fine which is why no speed was written on the ticket.
every single person makes mistakes on the job sometime. If the transport you were trying to pass was impeeding your ability to do so, you could argue "necessity" as a defence. IMHO the best place to argue these types of minor tickets (in alberta they are called type 1 and type 2 provinical statue tickets) is to saunter down to the handy dany crown procescutors office and show them the ticket is incomplete, your driving history is clean for the last 18 years, your were passing another vehicle at the time, hardship on thefine, and any other type of sob story you can come up with. If there is even the slightest chance that they can not get a conviction, it is easy for the Crown to withdraw the charge administratively and it saves the system a lot of money in the mean time, that's their incentive (think of it as your own little plea bargin). Once you show up to fight it in court, and the RCMP is on overtime, and the judge is there, and it's on the record, the Crown is going fight to make sure you pay. It's all about saving face and saving court time and money, the particulars as you describe them sound like an easy compromise with the crown if you approach with the right attitude before it gets to court.
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Old Aug 10, 2005, 11:17 pm
  #35  
 
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Originally Posted by UPS6009
Being that you were pulled over by probably a highway patrol RCMP member, do you really thing he filled out the ticket wrong. All that member does each day is.. write tickets. You sped, and broke the law, fess up and pay the consequence. That big number on the sigh does not say "Anywhere in the neighborhood of 90 Km/h"
Radar or not RCMP members are trained in vehicle speed estimation and they're word and judgment holds up in court. Luckily he reduced the fine which is why no speed was written on the ticket.
Well, as jocko2 said, people make mistakes all the time. I've successfully argued against tickets from "veteran" cops. There was one time the judge even gave a verbal lashing to a "veteran" for sloppiness. Some cops don't even bother to show up when they realize they've filled out their ticket incorrectly. Sometimes, cops plea-bargain outside the courtroom themselves.
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Old Aug 11, 2005, 7:58 am
  #36  
 
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Cattle, I don't think you will get any points on your license as your DL is issued by AB and the offence is in BC.

The speed does not have to be on the ticket. The ticket will likely state the section and sub section of the MVA (Motor Vehicle Act) that you violated.

If the member was HP (Highway Patrol), s/he will be in court. Traffic court gets scheduled once a month or so, all the traffic offences (non criminal code) get heard at the same session, that way the members can schedule time to be at court. If you were stopped by a GD (General Duty) member, their is a good likelyhood of them not being in traffic court, they will forget or be busy watching paint dry instead, that is how interested a lot are in traffic stuff.

I am assuming you were stopped by a HP member, you can usually tell on the ticket. Close to the bottom, it will have the members Reg #, their name (quite often illegible) and it may say ........ Traffic Services/Highway Patrol.

Personally, I would just mail the BC Govt a cheque and not worry about it. Here is another issue than can and has happened. The member lowered the fine on the ticket. This can be raised in traffic court back to the original amount. If the member made a mistake in filling out the ticket, they can easily give you a new one correctly filled out, then you have to make another trip to BC to try and fight it again.

Just pay it.
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Old Aug 11, 2005, 8:17 am
  #37  
 
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I've seen the car Cattle drives, I am surprised it does over 80!

I had a speeding ticket near Chilliwack in 1999 and it didn't show up on my abstract here in AB. Things may have changed but you should be ok.

I do remember that they were pretty vigilant getting me to pay though. I was just going to forget about it until the collection agency letters started to arrive.
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Old Aug 11, 2005, 9:32 am
  #38  
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The Winger made me think (and I don't appreciate that ) so I called Driver Fitness and Monitoring Branch of Alberta at (780) 427-8230 (toll free in Alberta 310-0000) and spoke to someone. She said that BC rarely sends speeding tickets to AB for processing and even if they do mine doesn't list a speed so it's only 2 demerit points on my license.

It never occured to me that it might not show up on my Alberta DL. I'm going to pay the fine today and be done with it.

Thanks to all and it's nice to see that we all can fill 3 pages rather quickly defending law breaking FT'ers

CASE CLOSED you may now resume your flying activities except cattle who ease up on his right hoof
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Old Aug 11, 2005, 9:35 am
  #39  
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Now the real reason for speeding comes out...

you were driving with four on the floor!

=aw
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Old Aug 11, 2005, 10:27 am
  #40  
 
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Originally Posted by cattle
Thanks to all and it's nice to see that we all can fill 3 pages rather quickly defending law breaking FT'ers
This thread fits on one page for me!

A quick tip for those who don't want to flip through page after page on longer threads. While logged in goto the MyFlyertalk link on the top left of the page then select Edit Options on the left of the page under settings and options. Pull this page down to the Thread Display Options section and here you can change the amount of posts per page. I have mine set at 40, which makes it much easier reading through longer threads.
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Old Jul 5, 2009, 1:16 pm
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You will find a few handy links explaining how to deal with tickets on my web site: http://www.drivesmartbc.ca

Of particular interest to this thread:

1) The officer is not required to write the speed on the ticket. It goes in the ticket notes.

2) The MVA requires that the JP impose the fine legislated for the speed being travelled. If they find between 20 and 40 over, for instance, they must impose the $196 fine and cannot reduce it.

3) Down near the signature block on the ticket you will find something to the effect of "shaded areas of the ticket do not form part of the offence charged." This means that the gray boxes are not required to be completed and failing to do so is not fatal to the ticket.

Last edited by skidmark; Jul 5, 2009 at 1:21 pm
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Old Jul 5, 2009, 5:04 pm
  #42  
 
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I had one before....and was told by ICBC that they dont report it out of province..... when u pay the fine u will be assigned a new BC drivers licence number...... till this day no one in ON questioned me.....

FYI that in BC they dont write the speed on the tix.... however they do make notes though - incase u want to fight in court! its either speeding against the sign or excessive speeding..... and it comes in two prices and dermit points instead of price per km in excess like ON.

If its a big city i would fight it...but in a small town, chances are the cop would show up..... (rem they have too much time!) nonetheless, i was told judges are lenient too and are willing to hear your story out.
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Old Jul 5, 2009, 8:30 pm
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