Come March and 1 month prior to the trial date I requested a copy of the disclosure along with the Officer's note which was faxed to me the following day ...

Started preparing my defense -- created written brief notes on sequence of events , interrogation of the Officer , questions to my wife as witness ..... and notes on defence why I thought the Officer was wrong .... These were namely :

a. My baby was crying incessantly which prompted a pass .
b. When I began maneuver there was nothing oncoming in sight ...
c. When I saw something coming , I increased speed and zipped back into lane .... loss of power experience due to a lighted vehicle .
d. Officer was 4 cars behind and should have been unable to judge distance and happenings .... Cited third dimensionality , binocular vision and dept of vision as arguments ..... In effect I felt that the Officer was not at an advantageous position to judge .

Prepared 5 sheets which I would use during my trial for reference .

Studied this website thoroughly and I must say it helped a lot .. http://www.ticketcombat.com ticketcombat dot com .

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Fido.

On the Trial date reached the court room and contacted the Prosecutor who informed me that the Officer had come that morning and they had decided that since it would be difficult to prove the charge , the Crown had decided to withdraw it ...................... Relieved !!!

But sat back and attended a trial ... Appeared that speeding tickets are the toughest ones to beat as they have evidence ...... and also that the Prosecutor offers a lesser fine and offence wherever it can to save the Court's time ...

Motto ... always visit the court ........ Your presence alone can alleviate things to your benefit . Contest if you have reasonable grounds and more importantly evidence .

Yes in 2 other cases where the Cop was absent , charges were withdrawn as well .

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Fido.

Do not be afraid to interrogate the Officer , its your right . I had prepared 5 - 6 points for a strong rebuttal but be polite ....

Also remember - testifying is different from arguments .... When the Officer testifies , just ask close ended questions which might shake the Officer's testimony ..........

Later when you stand in the box , testify as to what happened and provide holes in the Officer s testimony and why you think he is wrong .... Do not do it while questioning the Officer as he has a chance of disproving you at that time ...

Also what I learnt is -- that you are innocent till proven guilty 100 % ... This means if the Officer / Prosecution is unable to prove the charges 100% .... like black and white , you would be most likely judged non guilty where the appearance is gray ...

Best of Luck !

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Fido.

Great posts, Fido, thanks for posting your experience.
in your observation, what kind of defense works for defending speeding tickets?
and what kind of evidence is admissible?
I have a speeding ticket hearing coming up next month and need to prepare for that.
i'm pretty certain the cop will show up so I'm planning to prepare all my evidence.
what would you suggest?

The speeding trial I attended went as follows :

Cop testified that he observed an oncoming car and suspecting speeding switched his cruiser's device on . He had tested the device before and after his duty and was found OK . He also tested the device after the incident upon his cruiser and the speedometer matched . So the device was OK and the vehicle was offending .... Plain & simple ... black & white .........


The defendant pleaded that she FELT that she was going 10 over but not @ 110 in an 85 zone .... She also said that since she is not a public servant her statement should not be discredited .

The JoP ruled that she did not discredit her statement but was looking @ the depth & validity of evidence .... and hence ruled against her ....

To me its an open & shut case unless you can argue :

a. You remember checking your speedometer around that time and found the speed OK ........ Now your testimonies being equal , either your speedometer or the Officer s device is wrong ......... Take your speedometer to a Dealer and get it certified .... as never opened and reading correctly ..........

Coming back to the Officer s device , while requesting for disclosure , ask as to when was the Officer s device last calibrated before the ticket ..... If luck is on your side , the caliberation may have been done much before the guaranteed period and there s a strong chance that the device was showing incorrect reading at that time .......

b. You checked your speed and realized that you were over but you had an emergency which needed you to reach quickly ......... some body being hysterical over the phone , sounding grossly unwell or other wise ......For records , the doctor who was caught speeding while on way to a surgery was acquitted .

There s a reason why the Prosecution offers you a lesser offense - they want to minimize court time on trials and offer a bait ..... I am not sure how much a lesser speeding offense helps with the Insurance ......... I mean if I am going 25 over and they show the offense as 10 over ....... what that means to the Insurance Co..

All the best ..... Let us know how you beamed

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Fido.

Also - something I found later that in case of the first Trial date , you can request a deferment as close as 5 days before by sending some one to the Court if not possible your self ..... from the 2nd time , you have to go yourself and possibly much before ...

Also Cops have fixed days for courts or so it seems ..... In my case both the days were Fridays ..... When requesting a deferment try and ask for a day other than the same day that you have .... Chances are that if the Cop is on duty else where , he might miss your case ......

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Fido.