Turning Violations - Fighting your traffic ticket
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one of our Ontario Locations
OTT Legal's court agents are licensed by the Law Society of Upper Canada, and we ensure that your ticket receives the individual attention and priority necessary to win your case. For each case we obtain the officers notes (disclosure). We then investigate all legal procedures to have your traffic ticket dismissed. When your case comes to court our experts work to have your charge dropped entirely.
How to Fight Your Traffic Ticket
In any court case or trial the Police and Prosecutor have to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt to the Justice of the Peace before a conviction can be entered. The Justice of the Peace must be one hundred percent certain the motorist committed the offence.
The police are required to prove all the essential elements of the charge described in the Ontario Highway Traffic Act. If the prosecution is not able to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt the Justice of the Peace should dismiss the charge. As well the prosecution has to prove the who, what, when, where and how of the court case.
At trial the police officer will have a government appointed prosecutor to assist them as counsel. It is equally important that the defendant to be likewise well represented or they risk being convicted.
The prosecutor is a trained professional who represents the interests of the municipality, their job it is to get a conviction against the motorist. Most Prosecutors are extremely fair individuals however they are not in traffic court to help you. The prosecutor are the agent for the police and the city looking to register a conviction against the motorist.
A prosecutor will want to have a trial for most turning violations especially if there is an accident involved. If you do not know how to run a trial, make legal arguments, or have appeared in traffic court before you need the professional qualified assistance of OTT Legal.
OTT Legal in representing your case at trial not only looks at what happened and can the police officer prove the charge to the court, but we also look at the legal technicalities. We leave no stone unturned in fighting your ticket.
As most police officers are not equipped with an actual Ontario Highway Traffic Act. (They are actually issued a much smaller “wording booklet” which gives the officers only a brief “overview” of the offence, the section number, and the fine), one of the first things we do is ensure that the officer has laid the proper charge.
As many charges can sound similar to the officer in their wording book, the actual Highway Traffic Act has specific rules as to when and what charge can be made.
Sometimes there can be many different sections and subsections that refer to offences that sound very similar, but may have vastly different intentions. When your case is reviewed by a legal professional many times we can find a legal argument to win your case based upon the charge laid.
A common example of this is making an Improper Turn on a multi lane highway. It sounds straightforward. On the surface, it appears that somebody is alleged to have made an improper turn - usually wrong lane to wrong lane, on a highway that has multiple lanes of traffic.
The definition of “multi lane highway” is not just a highway with multiple lanes as described in the definition section of the Highway Traffic Act.
The charge refers to any highway that has more than one lane that is designated for turning. In other words, it is intended for a highway that has two or more dedicated left or right turn lanes and somebody makes a turn from another lane.
OTT Legal Wins Traffic Tickets on Legal Technicalities
Quite often, a police officer sees someone do something wrong, then looks to their Police wording booklet to try to see what “fits the best”. What “sounds the best” may not be the appropriate charge.
Because each section turning charge has its own requirements that must be met at trial you risk being needlessly convicted of an offence by not having qualified representation from Ontario Traffic Tickets.
Call or Visit
one of our Ontario Locations
Having a knowledgeable agent by your side ensures that the prosecution is put to the test to prove all the elements of the charge and that the correct charge has been commenced.
