Dareng

2 weeks ago monday...pulled over on Proctor ave in Thornhill. Cop pulled me in a radar trap. Gave me a ticket for doing 8 km over (48 in a 40) and a ticket for not having valid registration.

My registration for the car is a photocopy. However, my uncle who is a cop at 41 div said all i need is the front and that's all i have.

I'm fighting the tickets (becuase the cop told me to believe it or not) but im just wondering if they are worth fighting. The speeding ticket is $35 and the reg ticket is $110.

ForSale

man, always fight a ticket regardless if its minor or not, otherwise it will go on your insurance record, and smaller tickets are so easy to get withdrawn at courts. go to the court show them the orig registration, and the speeding ticket,lol the speeding 8kmh will not be even looked at they will throw that ish out. you prob got it because it was school zone, be careful next time, when ever you see 40kmh, it means school zone, and most likely a radar setup.

gatherer

I'd fight the reg ticket and bring your uncle as an officer who can inform that court that he told you do that ...

Wheather it's right or wrong to have a photocopy, having one cop saying it's wrong and one saying it's ok should be enough to show the courts that you have no Idea which way is up and you should get off .. of course you are not pleading ignorance of the law .. all you are showing the court is that 2 people in a position of authority have conflicting views on this subject. that shoudl be reasonible doubt ... or at least enough time would be wasted that the judge will toss it.

as for the speeding ticket .. it's no points so unless you know for sure you weren't going 8 over I'd pay it and forget about it.

Transformer Guy

I would fight both tickets because no speedometer on any vehicle is entirely correct (usually a 3-5km/h error) and especially it being only 8km over, it will get thrown out. 8kms is literally crawling.

Dareng

But what i find completly confusing is that the cop TOLD me to fight the Ticket. I dont my uncle that and he laughed. He said the cop was probably a rookie. I have gone to the offices in Richmond Hill because that is where I got pulled over and i'm waiting for my notice to appear...

ForSale

yes, or that the cop was making his quota, that happened to me as well when i got pulled for tags, the cop told me to just go to the court show them my updated tags and i'll be good, although i was still pissed just so he could get paid i had to do all the extra work, and waist my time.

he also wrote on my ticket, not in effect as of yet, can't rember somthing like that.

DumbasSi

Were you actually going 8 over or were you going faster and the cop lowered it?

bruce fee

it's a shame cops don't get tickets for giving stupid tickets (unless you were going 15 or 20 over and he gave you a break) - then you're an idiot for complaining about it.

ForSale

very good point ^^^

and thats why he should go to court, because even if the cop lowered it it dosen't matter, its what stated on paper, i.e the ticket which counts as evidence in court.

thats why im telling him go there, almost every ticket being issued by the cop is "lowered" when they issue it, but thats only because they know as we do that radars are not always 100% accurate.

DumbasSi

If the ticket was lowered to 8 over from say 20 over, the judge can raise it back up and charge him for the original speed.

Dareng

the ticket wasn't lowered...at least i don't think it was. All she told me was that it 8 km over and then gave me crap about my registration. The absoutly sad part is...i cut my thumb while fumbeling in my glove compartment. So i had to get a band aid from her...not to mention i felt like an idiot.

05CivicSi

You need to have the date sticker that comes with your plate sticker on the back of your registration, if that's not on there or not up to date its a $110 no point ticket. Maybe showing proof of that they will let you off.

And why do you just have a photo copy of the reg in the car? (Curious as to why)

DumbasSi

Some people carry a copy in the car to keep the original safe for loss or theft.

Dareng

Yea...when i got the car...they suggested to me that i keep only a copy in the car...and keep the orig safe incase the car was stolen (god forbid)

05CivicSi

Right, thats what I was thinking. I carry my Reg and Ins papers in my wallet, they are not to big and just in a small plastic sleeve. By having them with me all the time, if my car is stolen, there are no papers in the car. So no thief can fake a sale to himself with the reg, or wont be let go with a warning for not having papers in the car.

Just make sure you have a copy that shows the date sticker on the back. Hopefully if you explain why you had the photocopy, and that you did not realize that you needed the back portion and show them the original they will let you off with a warning.

As for the 8 over ticket, if it hasent been lowered it will probably be tossed, but if not its only $35 and no points.

tom-ee

cops jus wanna make it seem like their busy ... ****ing dicks

FiveO

European regs require that manufacturers calibrate their speedometers so that they never read below the actual speed the car is travelling. Most manufacturers will design the speedometer calibration so it reads slightly faster than what the car is actually doing, but they can be off in that direction by no more than 10% plus 4 kmph.

US manufacturers also build in an accuracy margin so the speedometer will never read low because of slight differences in tire size due to overinflation, etc. Typical US speedos will read 3% high at lower speeds, and 4% high at highway speeds. They will never read low as delivered from the factory.

Japanese cars fall in between US and European cars as far as speedo accuracy goes, and they too will never read slower than what the car is actually doing.

If you change that by putting on oversize tires, then you have introduced the problem and you are liable for any tickets that results.

It takes a fair bit for a city to impose a 40 km zone. The one place the cops almost always practice near zero-tolerance is in 40 km zone. Usually you're talking about school zones or very narrow residential streets, where that "paltry" 8 km can make quite a difference.

FiveO

Wrong. The ticket is not evidence. It's just a certificate of offence. The set fine on it is just an out-of-court settlement amount. If you choose to fight the ticket, the out-of-court settlement gets tossed out and you will go to trial. At trial, all of the available evidence can be brought out on the stand.

If the cop lowered the speed on the ticket, you can bet his notebook will make mention of that as well as noting the actual speed measured by the radar. That notebook is considered evidence. The cop will testify based on the contents of that notebook.

The prosecutor can ask the JP to amend the charges based on the actual speed measured by the cop, and more JPs are allowing that kind of change these days. If you fight a ticket that's already been lowered, you might find yourself being convicted and fined based on the original speed instead of the lowered one on the ticket.


Radar is usually accurate within 1 kmph, and unless the unit is malfunctioning, any error is almost always in favour of the car being clocked as a result of cosine effect. On top of that, the radar unit will always display a whole number rounded down - a measured speed of 48.9 will display as 48.

FiveO

Copies need to be "true" copies as per the HTA. If you're going to use copies, you need both sides, including a current copy of the side showing your current sticker.

You should be able to deal this one away with the prosecutor in exchange for a guilty plea on the speeding.

The cop told you to fight the ticket? You do know why, right? The cop is paid to be there. If trial is scheduled for his day off, he's looking at a few hundred $ in overtime pay so you can fight a $35 speeding ticket. Whether you win or lose is no skin off his back.

starboy869

However if the radar unit is off then you'll win.