I can’t believe I would be writing one of these. I was driving to work today, going from caledon to brampton, and I was driving on hwy 10 just past the forks of the credit. An OPP officer had a van pulled over to the side of the road. He was in his car, and I slowed down and drove past him. The next thing I know I’m being pulled over. I had never been pulled over for anything before, and I’m 24, so I was pretty scared. He tells me that he pulled me over for not going into the left lane while he was stopped. He gives me a ticket for $465, and when I asked him how many points get taken off, he said it was the same as reckless driving, so I’ll be losing 6 points. I couldn’t believe it, no warning for having the cleanest record possible, like I’ve never even had a parking ticket.
I found it weird that he would rush to specifically give me a ticket for it when he was already dealing with another person. He also said that “If I would’ve stuck my foot out of my car, I would’ve touched yours.” When he was like 3 feet into the shoulder, and I was at the far part of the right lane, so I would guess in total about 6 feet away from his car maybe. He also kept drilling in my head that it was not only the law, but common sense to move to the left. When we were pulled over, so many cars were passing us and not moving to the left that he handed me the ticket from my passenger window. So with all these weird things he said, I googled his name and found out that someone rear ended him during a routine stop 2 years ago. Am I really screwed for making my very first error, when I didn’t even know it was an error until he told me?
I’d fight it, simple as that.
Theres no way moving out of a clear lane, just because a cop is pulled over on the side of the road, still leaving room for cars to pass, a regulation among laws.
I drive by cops all the time that have pulled someone over, a matter of fact i did that today when i had a test over at seneca.
Either he’s on his period, or he needed to meet his quota for the month, either way i’d take it to court…theres no way in hell i’d let something like that stay on my record, let alone a 10 over which…i for some reason could never get rid of actually…erggg.
im in the same boat as you.
i was making a right at a red light that jsut turned green pass a car that was pulled over i was safefly away from the cop.
i keep driving normally 15min later i get pulled over and i get PULLED out of my car
and him swearing at me saying i almost killed him
he searched my car inside and out.
gives me a ticket for no insruacne cus its a month old i left the new one in my 240.
wow seems pretty intense, i would fight it for sure, try saying there was someone in the passing lane and you thought if you moved over you would be cutting them off.
its a new law they put in like 3-5 years ago, saying you have to move over one lane to pass cops pulled over, cause a few cops have been hit… but in your defence just say in court you couldnt move over cause the next lane was all covered in snow, and your lane was not, so in your best interested you used the uncovered lane, cause you felt if you used the other lane something could have happened and could have resulted in hitting another car or person, so in the interest of public safety you passed the officer really slowly… make sure you say in the interest of public safety cause thats weights more in your favor… it works ALL THE TIME
if you fight it the worst that will happen is you will get the cost of the ticket and a few points reduced. go to one of those traffic ticket fighting places that are free if they dont win. and ya, a cop cannot search you or your person unless he has a warrant signed by a sitting judge. now the acception is that if he can see something in ur can in plain sight that is illegal, or if he can smell any illegal substance. and even with suspision, he cannot search your trunk or glove box (if its locked) without a warrant signed by a sitting judge. so now u know ur rights, just tell the cop “my glove compartments locked, so is the trunk in the back. I know my rights, you gunna need a warrant for that…” lol jay z
Definately goto a ticket fighting place since its your first time fighting a ticket with so many points again only 2 things can happen as a first timer, either the ticket gets dropped or you get a heavily reduced ticket.
Thanks guys. I couldn’t believe that he didn’t give me a warning since it was my first time. I’m going to have to fight it because I can’t afford something like this. I also forgot to mention that he said to me that “You can go to court and plead not guilty, but all the evidence is there. I saw everything.”
if he said that to me i woulda laughed and said so i figured thats why you pulled me over!!.. but u have weather on your side, and remember to say ‘in the interest of public safety’… you’ll win so dont lose sleep over it
Yea fight it, say you had your indicator on to move over, but it was not safe to do so due to the snow and traffic, but you decrease your speed and past the cruiser with caution.
hate to break to all of you but justice of peice can only lower the price the only way you can get your damaret points re-instated is if that specific officer aggres to give them back to you
I recall hearing they were cracking down on this kind of stuff, so there may be many others in your position as well.
As mentioned, you should contact a ticket-fighting agency and explain your story and take it from there. You may only get the reduction but that is better than nothing, after all his OPP cruiser may indeed have surveillance. Of course there is a minute chance he might not show, or it gets dropped due to an error on the ticket etc, and that is WHY you show.
Best of luck.
And thanks for sharing this, we’ll all be extra careful.
I felt it was something people should be aware of since I didn’t know, but I’ve been doing some research to back my case up, such as looking up the officers’ name like I stated before, and I even got an internet news article stating that all the schools were closed due to bad weather on the date. So Kollo, even if I prove the officer wrong, the case can’t be dropped? I’d still lose points and money no matter what, it’s just a case of how much I lose?
The law came out a few years ago, but as he suggested, when you go to court, say you couldn’t move over safely, but you did slow down. Go take a picture of the spot from your point of view, and show how you would not have been able to move over safely.
That is some serious mis information the JP or Judge has the final say on everything, however for the most part the JP/Judge agrees with the Crown only because they can present their case better.
I’ve sat in on ENOUGH real world court cases for school
I’ve seen jp and judges do everything from lower points to completely going against the HTA fines, such as go BELOW the min. fine written in the HTA. example would be a guy that was driving without insurance for the second time, JP HAD to give him a min. fine of 5000 or 10000 for second time offender, he gave the guy 1000. The crown/cop tried to argue it and basically tried to nail the guy to the wall and the JP told them to sit down and STFU this is my house.
The cop can write all the tickets but its upto a impartial jp/judge to pass the judgement and sentencing. You will notice the crown basically “suggests” a fine with points and a judge will agree or not.
Thats why its recommended to ALWAYS fight tickets, because in the end its the JP/Judges decision (NOT THE COPS) and all the ones I’ve seen they are VERY fair people.