Quote:
Originally Posted by z3german
As a general rule of thumb, I feel all minor traffic violations should be disputed. It keeps the officers in check to follow proper procedure. For example if you are ticketed for speeding and at the end of the officers shift they calibrate and find out its not calibrated, your ticket would be counted as no evidence when you go to court. But you would only know that the officer doesnt have evidence if you dispute! Once you pay you admit to guilt, which is why if you would never in a billion years get a refund after you pay for a ticket that has no evidence. It is completely within your rights to ask for disclosure and I strongly recomend doing so. Its under your charter of rights and freedom to a right to fair trial. Use it or you will lose it. If you ask for disclosure and the officer never sends it to you, in court NEVER accept the offer to go outside the court room and review the evidence, politely say that this does not give you sufficient enough time to make a case for yourself. Their only 2 options would be to post pone the court date, or to just let you off under No evidence. I feel Canada is becoming more and more a police run state (province? country?) where cops are getting away with a lot more than they should be, and may be slacking off on some proper procedures they should be doing. Our right to dispute and our right to a fair trial is one of the few things we can exercise to make sure officers do proper procedures, right down what they are suppose to right, be thorough in their notation, etc. Good luck in all your disputes and court action. Exercise your rights and freedoms while we all still can, who know when we will lose them.
|
QFT
Even if you know you were speeding and the officer shows up, you can always talk to them prior to standing in front of the JP and try to get a lower charge.
Or you can go to the JP and ask for extended time and or a lower fine. But you will still have to pay the 15% victims surcharge.
And about asking for "disclosure" this is a very important step in your fight to dispute the ticket.