Speeding Camera Ticket question

[igorot]

Case in point: Small municipalities requested or crafted a bylaw on speeding in school zones, but these cameras are installed on main highways. Go figure (cash cow). Request a diversion road if you want to avoid speeding in your area. I may be .000001 percent revenue for this municipality, but I will not take a pit stop for this municipality. Nanton had hired a dedicated bylaw officer to enforce this stupidity on Highway 2, and they are proud of it. I hope everybody will ignore Nanton for a pit stop and see how it works out for their constituent whose business is on the highway. One more on your radar is Whitecourt and GP ; it is the same scenario.

[roper1]

Originally Posted by huntinstuff

I got one last year
Set a trial date
I plead insanity
They looked me over, agreed, and I walked out with no fine. It was awesome

Doesn't matter if you eat the sharp end or the stub end, I want what's left of your crayons

[sewerrat]

Originally Posted by CBintheNorth

This was the judge that offered this deal, or the prosecutor?

Prosecutor.

[Sundancefisher]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

The only issue is that this whole circus costs thousands of dollars to the taxpayers while saving $20-50 bucks to the offender. If not guilty, sure, it is worth it. If simply trying to save a few dollars, you will likely spend a lot more of your time that is likely more valuable and cost much more money to the province to deal with this.

Also, if only to talk to the prosecutor, expect to spent a few hours (~2-3 hours at least); if going in front of the judge to fight it, expect to spend the whole day.

I knew a guy who wanted to fight his ticket. Told to show up first thing. Sat all day and didn’t hit the docket. Had to come the next day and was last. Lost two days holiday. Still had to pay something. Wasn’t worth it.

People can do what they want as it is their right.

I hate stupid places where they place an unexpected speed limit drop and set up cameras there.

There is a spot heading east on 22X leaving Calgary. When the road was being constructed they posted the speed at 80 kmh for a short stretch. It’s 100 kmh on either side. They never took out the speed drop and it’s a great place for speed traps now.

Speeding is a choice we all decide to do or not and accept the consequences of our actions. It sucks but I agree with CB… if you were speeding.. pay and move on.

[Fradaburidi]

I don't speed anymore.

If I drive at 120Km/h instead of 100KM/h for 100Kms I will arrive 10-12 minutes earlier that in most cases will make no difference but:
- I will be stressed out every time I see a car driving from the opposite direction thinking it might be a police car
- Fuel consumption will be higher
- Noise will be higher
- Car wear will be higher

I've just learned to be a little more patient.

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

I knew a guy who wanted to fight his ticket. Told to show up first thing. Sat all day and didn’t hit the docket. Had to come the next day and was last. Lost two days holiday. Still had to pay something. Wasn’t worth it.

People can do what they want as it is their right.

I hate stupid places where they place an unexpected
speed limit drop and set up cameras there.

There is a spot heading east on 22X leaving Calgary. When the road was being constructed they posted the speed at 80 kmh for a short stretch. It’s 100 kmh on
either side. They never took out the speed drop and it’s a
great place for speed traps now.

Speeding is a choice we all decide to do or not and
accept the consequences of our actions. It sucks but I agree with CB… if you were speeding.. pay and move on.

Mistakes happen, a coworker got a ticket for 100 in a 70 zone, the picture showed the vehicle was in fact in the 100 zone, and the described location supported the picture. He called AMA legal advice, because they still offered legal advice for free. He was advised to called the ticket issuer, who said basically not their problem see you in court. He called AMA again, and was advised to call the issuer again, and tell them he was filing for malicious prosecution, and again, see tou in court. The week before the court date he received a letter stating that the ticked was canceled. Another incident occured in a construction zone in Edmonton, the crews had not changed the sign when they started work, but tickets were issued, based on what the signs should have said, not what they actually said.
If I get a ticket, which I haven't, I will scrutinize the pictures, the location and the date, and any mistakes, and I will plead not guilty.

[pikergolf]

Get yourself a good witness and fight it, here is an instructional video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79mxYFBM1yE&t=3s

[W921]

In Nanton and Claresholm. Especially Nanton they are ticketing because people are complaining and probably rightly so.
I'm not big on police and going after good people with tickets.
Big trucks are the worse because these big companies are hiring people that 40 years ago would not have been employable. Its a horrible low paying job that you would have to be desperate to work for these outfits.
Basically Nanton and Claresholm want to force traffic into town to get tourist dollars but they also dont want the traffic that comes with it.
Traffic especially truck traffic was and is ridiculous how fast blasting through town.
The towns would have red light intersections and photo radar everywhere but the highway is under provincial jurisdiction.
Province rightly wants highway to go around towns and not slowed down.
Claresholm allowing a McDonald's to build right along the highway right now were there is a bad intersection with no light. Going to create an even bigger mess. The town will then blame Danielle Smith for everything even though it is the towns fault.

[tirebob]

Originally Posted by NINJABABY

I just to mention again that it was an "Automatic camera ticket" and not a pull over a ticket.

Will the clerk still be able to reduce it?

Photo radar has no demerits attached. My understanding, or at least how it used to be, is if you go to court for a registered owner photo ticket and plead not guilty you need to prove someone else was driving the car and if you can't do that then you will also be assigned the demerits along with a fine. Not sure if this is still the case but if it is then I would just pay the fine rather than risk the fine and the points... Especially if these are legit tickets. If you did it, pay the price.

I have fought 2 tickets that I felt were wrongly enforced and I stood before the judge on both and was declared not guilty on both and nothing to do with technicalities. They were legitimately bad tickets. Any ticket I ever got that I deserved I paid.

[ak77]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

I knew a guy who wanted to fight his ticket. Told to show up first thing. Sat all day and didn’t hit the docket. Had to come the next day and was last. Lost two days holiday. Still had to pay something. Wasn’t worth it.

Must've been long time ago. My last year ticket was scheduled for 9 am, they go by 2 hours increments i believe... Give it take. I have another one scheduled for 1.20pm some time in September.

About were you speeding, or is it worth fighting it...
A member of the group I'm in on FB just shared her experience fighting a mobile PR ticket... She was approached by the prosecution twice on the court date with the offers to reduce the penalty instead of going before judge. She declined. In the end her ticket was tossed because prosecution didn't have calibration certificate/data for the day she got the ticket. She also said a bunch of tickets were dismissed because the picture was out of focus. She spent 3 hours in court. Her ticket was $150+.

[Ariu]

Originally Posted by ak77

1. Mail in the ticket with NG plea. They will schedule the court date for you. There have been a few instances in last couple of years when the prosecution withdraws the charges at this point.
2. About a month before new court date request full disclosure. Most likely they will send it to you (they have to), but again, it's possible the prosecution will withdraw charges at that point.
3. You get to request one adjournment. They will grant it to you. Yet again, it's possible they withdraw the charges at this point.
4. Go to court. It's possible the other side will not show up, then the charges are dropped. If they do it's possible they will offer you reduced penalty at that point. If anything, you didn't have to pay the ticket for a couple of years.

Have to weigh in the pros and cons of going to court. Will it cost you money to take a day off?
No, it doesn't show up on your driving record; it is issued to the vehicle license plate and to the registered owner. As such you don't have to disclose that ticket to the insurance because it's impossible to prove who was driving the vehicle.
No, they don't make deals anymore before trials

CBintheNorth Do you have the problem with anyone following due legal process of having legal right to have one's day in court to face the accuser or you just rode by on your high horse and decided to put in your .02c? Asking for the clarity...

They're number of proven cases when the photo radar equipment was calibrated wrong, when the mobile camera operators were sleeping on the job or were absent altogether, etc...

Ps. Not a legal advice, about 50% personal experience, and 50% research.

Just a strategic dot for future references.

[Okotok]

I got a photo ticket in the mail last June for a red light violation in Spruce Grove. I slowed down to make a right from 16a going through town on to Century Road heading South. It stated that I had crossed the stop line 2/100ths of a second after the light turned red.

The ticket was for $400. I obviously wasn't too happy about it. I checked into the whole, "meet the prosecutor and get it tossed or reduced" avenue but was told that they no longer allowed this. I mailed in a not guilty plea and a court date was set for March 24th/2023. I eventually decided it wasn't worth my time and elected to just pay the fine and move on. Last week I received a cheque for $405 from the Solicitor General. The stub said the ticket was "quashed". No reason given. Not sure what happened there but I'll take it.

[Ebrand]

Quashed means there was some sort of error ( usually a clerk picks up on the error ) and judge is advised that the ticket needs to “no longer exist”.

Judge is not likely to ask for an explanation.

Tickets that are quashed MAY be reissued within 6 months of the offence date.

I am surprised that they did not keep the $ and “accept “ your guilty plea.

[cacty]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams1

That's what they count on. My theory is, if everyone went to court, they might decide the milk from the Cash Cow is just too expensive.

Astute point, I could not agree more.