I have the solution...
OK. Read through the responses to this one and I think that we are not well served by the flame war that is developing.
My bias is with the answers of BeansGunsGhandi.
When the politicians brought us Photo Radar over 10 years ago, I recall being promised that it would make our streets SAFER by drastically reducing speeding on our streets. I challenge anyone on this board to find me valid statistics to show that this has happened, and that it was somehow related to photo radar.
Because of that, I think it is our responsibility to get rid of it. Legal arguments are not going to get us there. The only thing that is going to change this now, is to make the system a net DRAW of money rather than a net ADD of money to the public coffers. If that were to happen, I am sure it would die awful fast. Especially when they cannot prove that after more than 10 years nothing has changed.
Here is how we do it, and it is so simple. All you have to do is exercise your rights!
Let me explain. I fought a ticket about 8 months ago in St. Albert. When I showed up for my court date, there was a roster of all the cases that were scheduled that afternoon posted in the main reception area. All appeared to be photo radar. I counted more than 14 sheets with over 40 names on each! I assume that they bunch all tickets on the same day every week, or every 2 weeks, but even so, that is a hell of a lot of people. I was the only one who chose to show up and fight.
When you do, the prosecutor tries to cut a deal with you before it all starts so that they do not have to waste time with you in court. If you refuse, and demand that they make their case, you just get to sit there for 20 mins while they call the guy who operated the gun up to the stand and go through all the questions like 'are you trained to use this gun' etc.
All in all you will waste about 20 minutes of 1)the operators time 2) the prosecutor's time, 3) the judge's time 4) the clerk's time not to mention all the staff that keep the place running etc.
If even half the people who get these stupid tickets paid some teenager to appear on their behalf and just sit there while the crown made it's case over and over again for every stupid ticket... the system would collapse. They rely on our apathy to keep feeding the cash cow.
Also, You need to ask the crown for full disclosure before the date. It is your right. That means that they must provide you with a copy of ALL the evidence that they are going to rely on at trial. This includes the original copies of the photos, the log file that the operator of the van fills out. copies of his training certificates etc. It also includes the search that was done at the registries to prove that this was your car (this costs the crown $15 to do). All the time and money that it would take them to provide this for everyone would make it not worth their while.
That is how we can get rid of this. All the actions that I have described are your legal right. All you have to do is say 'not guilty' and at the end of it you will have become better informed about the legal process (which I am sure we could all use...) and had a little bit of an adventure as well.
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