Sunday, April 5, 2015

What To Do With A Traffic Ticket? Part 1

In Ontario there are two types of traffic tickets issues by the police officer, depending on the nature and the severity of the traffic tickets issued.
The first type is an offence notice or notice of infraction. On that certificate there is always a set fine and total payable amount identified. Under the Provincial Offences Act it is referred to as part I notice of infraction. When you receive one of those tickets, you have 15 days to make a decision as to which options you want to exercise in order to deal with your ticket.
The second type is referred to as Summon or part III under the Provincial Offence Act. We will cover that topic in our next blog.
Traffic offences just like any other offences are allegations by the issuing officer that you have violated a traffic law. Keep in mind just because the police offer says you have committed a driving offence, does not make it so. Under the Canadian Charter of Rights, you are presumed innocent until proven guilty by the court, only after the crown attorney can prove beyond reasonable doubts that you have committed that offence.
Therefore, it is advisable that you always choose the option of not guilty and fight your ticket. The benefits of that are many.
If you plead guilty, you will get a conviction on your driving record that will remain there for 3 years from the time you pled guilty. That is a long time for your insurance company to refer to your record year after year for the next 3 years and increase your insurance premium.
Even if you choose the option of plea guilty with explanation, it is still a conviction. A Guilty plea is a guilty plea. Period. Your explanation will most likely reduce the amount of the fine a bit, and the justice of the peace in courts has no jurisdiction over cancelling your demerit points or removing them from your record. He or she will enter the guilty plea and then it is the Ministry that gets such information from the courts and register that conviction on your record.
Therefore, if you got a traffic ticket in Toronto or anywhere in Ontario and want to know what to do, it is advisable to exercise your right under the Charter and choose the option of not guilty and represent yourself in court or hire an expert paralegal or lawyer to fight your traffic ticket for you so that you can, at the very least save your demerit points or get off the charge completely.
Our expert team of traffic ticket fighters in Toronto have the experience and knowledge to provide you with the best legal services to help you fight your traffic tickets, and win.

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