I am currently 14 months into the Novice Driver stage. I am concerned about having to restart my 24 Months if I get anymore points.
I was allegedly caught going 102 in a 70 zone but was charged with the lesser offense of 138 dollars which I have no problem paying / accepting, I am a first year Criminology student and I am intending on disputing the charges.
The main concern to me about the whole situation is the points that will affect my driving record and I am probably not looking to actually fight the charges but rather make a “plea deal” with the alleged officer on the court date or sooner.
How do I contact the officer I have his badge number and that's it?
The options that I have read and considered is asking the officer to consider a lesser charge in exchange for a guilty verdict.
Looking at the Motor Vehicle Act the one offence that I saw that could be an alternative to it is section 161 for Disobeying traffic sign or signal which is a $121 dollar fine and only 2 points. Is this a charge that is often substituted for speeding? Or is there a better more common one that I should pursue?
The other common option I saw for plea deals was asking the officer to charge the fine to registered owner of the vehicle and receive no points. The registered owner is currently my Mother and I understand that, this option is likely not feasible in my position. Would he be willing to charge the owner if my mother was willing to accept the charges? Or the other option I thought of was to become the registered owner of the vehicle since it is my car before the trial occurs and then he could charge me as the registered owner.
Again my main concern on the issue is the points and how they will effect my Novice license. With the current legal situation being what it is with backlog in the courts I should be waiting for over a year for my trial which in the time I should be eligible to get my class 5, will I be aloud to take it during the pre-trial process and keep it?
Any suggestions?
Yes, the section 161 charge is a viable alternative and one without a minimum fine amount. The regulatory sign for speed is a traffic control device and speeding is failing to follow it. It will only shave off one point, but that may be of assistance to you.
A registered owner ticket is also a possibility that you may wish to go over with your mother before you approach the officer. It will definitely help to have her on side!
The officer may choose to accept either alternative, particularly if you pay the RO fine without quibble. If I were him I would issue the RO ticket and then withdraw the original speeding ticket once I saw that the RO ticket was paid.
Either way, the officer's issuing agency should be shown on the ticket along with his name and badge number. This should be enough to find a phone number for his agency and to contact and make an appointment with him to discuss the matter. He may or may not wish to, and either choice is a valid one for him.
Finally, if you can obtain your class 5 before the matter comes up for dispute, you don't have to worry about the next ticket meaning a longer stay in the GLP. You will just have to drive carefully and responsibly, then you won't have to worry about another ticket.
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Having very recently attempted something similar I should warn you that it may not go well.
I offered to plea guilty to an alternative charge and pay the fine and/or have the registered owner charged and pay the fine, that day right away. The officer shut that down in a hurry and said I could ask the Justice. I tried that, and got a rather stern lecture for my trouble. I pointed out that regardless of my guilt or innocence I was concerned about the abstract, he went on about how the point of the abstract is so that everyone is accountable for their actions and how it was important to be able to track which people were unsafe drivers. He went on about how if I was innocent then why should I be trying to find a way to plead guilty, and if I was guilty then I should just man up and pay the fine.
After all that, in a small courtroom, it didn't exactly go well trying to convince him I wasn't speeding.
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A deal has to be made with the officer prior to trial. The justice is only there to hear the case and not decide what charges you face.
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