Motor Vehicle Accidents -Traffic Ticket Facts

Careless Driving - Turning Violations - Lane Change Accidents

Traffic tickets as a result of a motor vehicle collision or accident mean that a police officer has attended an accident scene and investigated your accident. The police officer has determined that you have made a driving error and are 100% at fault in the accident.

If you pay a traffic ticket as a result of an accident you are accepting this fault determination by the police officer. Your insurance company basis their fault determination from the police officers report. As such your insurance company will penalize the driver for two reasons.

Being the person at fault and who caused a traffic accident, and
Receiving a traffic ticket from the police officer

Having received "two strikes" against your insurance, your insurance company will/may, upon renewal consider raising your insurance rates.

If you fight your traffic ticket from an accident, winning the court case can save you thousands of dollars in insurance premiums.
( Even if you win the case on a technicality!)

If your matter goes to trial and the Justice of the Peace determines at the trial that the accident was not your fault, you can take transcripts of the Justice's decision to the insurance company. With a Justice's determination of fault, your insurance company may be obligated to remove the accident entirely from your record. (read case study and testimonial regarding accident reversal, our fault was zero percent)

Did you know that there is no such thing as "no fault" insurance for motor vehicle accidents in Ontario? "No Fault" really means each insurance company pays to fix the claim of its insured driver. Insurance companies rely on "accident settlement" charts and police accident reports to determine who is "at fault" in accidents and base rates upon claims made by the insured.

It is important to have a trained legal person review your case to give you the best opportunity at reducing or even reversing "fault determination" for your traffic ticket.

When Insurance rate increases occur for up to six years, fighting your traffic ticket can save you thousands of dollars.

Did you know:

Less than 10% of all police officers in Ontario receive specific, detailed accident investigation training.
Most officers receive only rudimentary accident investigation instruction at the Ontario Police College.
Police Officers receive more training on proper completion of the accident report for Ministry of Transportation statistical purposes than actual investigative techniques.
Most Police Officers don’t even know how to determine the "point of impact" or properly analyze skid marks.
Most Police Officers in Ontario are not issued the Highway Traffic Act, to be able to properly lay the correct charge, or to review the law themselves to see who is at fault.
Many Police Officers are only issued a "wording booklet" which gives them an abbreviated wording of the charges of the Highway Traffic Act of Ontario, the section number and the amount of fines to be entered on the certificate for an accident.
In 2002, only 3 officers at the Toronto Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police, (one of the largest traffic units in Canada) had any "post Aylmer" (police college) accident investigation training at all.
One of those was former Toronto Police Constable Chris Conway. Chris later founded OTT Legal Services.
Accident investigators from the Toronto Police receive accident investigation training that is second to none in North America.

A case for hiring professionals

We have all heard the old adage that "a person who represents himself in court has a fool for a lawyer". Who better to represent themselves in court than an actual lawyer? We have all seen instances on the news where a lawyer is facing criminal or civil sanction. Did you notice that the lawyer does not speak for himself? Invariably, the lawyer has a lawyer of his own?

The reason is that when someone represents themselves in court they simply do have the emotional detachment that is required to properly ask questions and assess the answers to those questions.

As an active, involved participant in the original incident you have a certain mind set that prevents you from properly evaluating all possible scenarios and to use a worn cliche, to "think outside of the box".
In any case, the prosecution has the burden of proving two basic things:

Did the defendant do something wrong?
Identification of the defendant.

In most routine minor traffic matters, it would be up to the officer to provide that information. In an accident case, the other driver is required in court to provide details of what occurred (remember the officer did not personally witness the accident). The officer attends to basically provide the identification and describe the scene.

In any court case the prosecution has to prove the, Who, What, When and Where.

If the officer attends court and the other driver does not attend, you should win. If the other driver attends, but the officer does not, by representing yourself, you are providing the identification evidence for the prosecutor.

In effect, when you represent yourself in an accident matter, you are assisting the prosecutor to prove 50% of the case against you! Don’t stand alone. Get OTT Legal Services on your team to ensure you have a winning defense.

As well with any court case a legal profession will know how to represent you in trial, how to cross-examine any witnesses against you, and how to file legal arguments, like an 11B argument (Right to trial within a reasonable time frame), and Section 7 arguments (application to have any statements denied into evidence).

Why Risk Losing? Call For a Free Consultation 1-888-668-8946 or Email Your Request