How to Fight a Speeding Ticket - Speeding Ticket Defense

How to Fight a Speeding TicketHow do you fight a speeding ticket? Should you just pay the fine? Maybe you have a defense to speeding? Will the speeding ticket affect your insurance rates? Are there demerit points?

Even a minor speeding ticket has more penalties than just the fine. A speeding ticket can affect your insurance rates, and your right to drive for years.

Find out all the facts, and learn what the penalties are for speeding.

When you call OTT Legal Services our Licensed Paralegals, and former police officers can tell you all you need to know about speeding tickets and can answer any questions you may have.

The fastest way to win your speeding ticket is to call OTT Legal at 1-888-668-8946.

Speeding Tickets - What You Need to Know >
There are two Types of Speeding Tickets >
Demerit Points for Speeding Tickets >
How does a Speeding Ticket affect my Insurance Rates >
How Can I Fight the Ticket - Court Defenses for Speeding Tickets >
Speeding Ticket FAQs >

More information about Speeding Tickets

Although thousands of speeding tickets are issued in Ontario each year. You have to wonder about the reasoning for doing so. Most drivers stopped for speeding are driving just above the speed limit, and are not doing anything dangerous.

The police departments send out hundreds of police officers every day to write speeding tickets, but do little other than enforcement to stop any perceived speeding problem. The real reason speeding tickets are issued is because of the revenue that is created for the municipality. The money from speeding tickets goes to the municipality to use as a tax source.

Although most motorists can see paying a fine, and the reasoning behind controlling the speed of traffic, insurance companies use the speeding tickets as a reason to increase your insurance rates.

The insurance companies are private businesses that look for reasons to increase your insurance rates to increase their profits. Even though you have never been in an accident, and only that you have may driven 10 or 20 kilometers over the posted speed limit the insurance companies use this to increase your rates.

If you do receive a speeding ticket you have to do everything you can to have the speeding ticket removed from your driving record. Your insurance company may not raise your insurance rates because of one speeding ticket, but if you get a second speeding ticket expect your insurance rates to rise.

Three speeding tickets will put any drivers insurance rates into "high risk insurance rates" of thousands of dollars per year. So you have to fight each ticket as never know if your going to get another ticket next year or the year afterwards.

Statistically if you have received a speeding ticket there is a 20% chance that you will receive another ticket within the three year period. Make sure that you do not pay your speeding ticket, but fight it very hard, and contact OTT Legal to fight your speeding ticket.

As well as having a conviction on your driving record, any speeding ticket for more than 15 kilometers over the limit has demerit points attached to it.

The Ministry of Transportation collects demerit points

For each class of drivers licence demerit points from Speeding tickets can affect your drivers licence. If you get too many demerit points for your class of licence the Ministry of Transportation can suspend your driving for 30 days to six months.

For any G1 or G2 drivers licence if you receive one speeding ticket with 4 demerit points or more and you pay the ticket, there is a mandatory 30 day licence suspension. If you obtain an accumulation of 6 demerit points or more, again the Ministry of Transportation can suspend your drivers licence for 30 days for a first time accumulation, and if the accumulation happens a second time the Ministry may suspend your drivers licence for 6 months.

Drivers with a class G drivers licence are allowed to accumulate 8 demerit points from speeding ticket. Upon reaching 9 points the Ministry of Transportation will call the driver in for an interview to discuss their driving habits. At the interview the interviewer may suspend the drivers licence or caution the driver.

If your drivers licence is ever suspended the insurance companies use this as a reason to increase your insurance rates dramatically.

Why you have to fight your Speeding Ticket

You have to fight your speeding ticket because if you pay the ticket your insurance rates can increase dramatically. Although one speeding ticket may not affect your insurance rates, if you pay the ticket it will be on your driving record for 3 years. If during that three year period you receive a second or third ticket your insurance rates will go up dramatically but thousands of dollars per year.

As well if you pay the speeding ticket and accumulate demerit points you risk having your drivers license suspended. Having a licence suspension on your driving record is considered a major violation, in the same category as Careless Driving, Drunk Driving, and Hit and Run Accidents.

You must do everything possible to keep the speeding ticket off your record and to keep your driving abstract clear.

How to fight your Speeding Ticket

The first thing to do is take the ticket to the court and say your not guilty. You have to attend at the court from where the ticket was issued in person and apply for a court date. If your not sure what to do, and you want to think things over contact any office of OTT Legal and we will file your ticket for you for a nominal fee in the GTA.

You do not want to have a meeting with the prosecutor to discuss your case. All the prosecutor will do is reduce the ticket, but it will still go on your driving record and to your insurance company for 3 years. You want to do everything you can to have your speeding ticket dismissed.

At the court the court clerk may try to talk you into meeting with the prosecutor, to "avoid a contested trial" (read as a scare tactic by the court). You always want to have a contested trial and going to a trial date is the ONLY way that your ticket will get dismissed.

When you appear in court the Judge does not want to hear why you were speeding. Why you were speeding is an explanation.

An explanation, why you were speeding is not a defense to Speeding. An explanation is something that will get your ticket reduced, but only a defense issue will get the ticket dismissed

You can always try to fight your speeding ticket yourself, but do you know the technicalities for speeding tickets. Bring your speeding ticket to OTT Legal and we can review your ticket for you, tell you what the technicalities are, and how OTT Legal fights speeding tickets.

Speeding is called a "strict liability offence". Meaning that the prosecutor does not have to show why or how you were speeding to convict you, they only have to show that you were speeding.

OTT Legal has one of the highest success rates for fighting speeding tickets in Ontario. We win hundreds of speeding tickets each year. Call us now to discuss your ticket with an expert.

There are only two defenses to speeding that the court will dismiss a speeding ticket for;

  1. You were speeding to save your life or the life of another person, when there was no other reasonable way of doing so.
  2. You were speeding because your life was in danger, and you were speeding to get to a place of safety e.g. the police station.

Mistakes on Speeding Tickets

First thing everyone does when they receive a speeding ticket is to look at and examine the speeding ticket to see if there are any mistakes on it. The traffic courts have divided mistakes into two categories.

Minor mistakes are things like a spelling mistake on the ticket, e.g. your name or street is spelt wrong, or the wrong licence plate.

Minor mistakes are allowed to be fixed at the court by the prosecutor, and will not get the speeding ticket canceled.

Major mistakes are called "Fatal Errors" Fatal errors are things that MUST be on the speeding ticket for the Justice to find you guilty of speeding. When you case comes to court, you must be able to tell the Judge that there is a "fatal error" on the ticket, explain why it is a fatal error and be prepared to argue the issue with the prosecutor.

When the speeding ticket comes to court, its the court's copy of the ticket that has to be correct.

As the driver only receives a copy of the police officer's original speeding ticket, when you appear in traffic court the original ticket, the courts copy needs to be reviewed to make sure that it does not have any fatal errors, and that the ticket matches the ticket that was given to the driver.

Some mistakes on the speeding ticket may not be visible to the untrained eye, like a proper filing date, an after service amendment, or improper service, but OTT Legal knows, and we win tickets by knowing exactly what the police officer has to do to have a proper ticket before the court.

When we get to traffic court we want to make sure that the police officer is properly prepared and has their notes. The police officer must be able to tell the Justice that they tested the radar or laser to the manufactures specifications, and we have the manuals and will be ready to cross-examine the officer if they have made a mistake.

OTT Legal always looks to have your speeding ticket dismissed completely saving your insurance rates and demerit points.

Why Risk Losing? Contact our Offices.