Speeding Tickets - Frequently Asked Questions


Q. When I was pulled over, the officer didn't let me see the radar reading. Is this valid grounds for a dismissal?

A. No. The officer is not required by law to show you the police radar.

This issue has been "tried" in the courts, and the courts have decided that whether or not the driver saw the police radar it is not relevant to the charge, and the police officer does not have show you the radar. Many officers being reasonable will show you the reading if it is possible for them to do so.

At times the officer will not want to, or be unable to because of any number of reasons

  1. There is a multiple officer speed enforcement set up and the speed has been cleared off the device to allow the next officer to do enforcement.
  2. The officer may feel it is not safe for you to get out of your car stand on the highway as a pedestrian to look at the reading, especially if this was on a major highway. Secondly it is illegal for pedestrians to be on 400 series highways.
  3. The officer may have cleared the reading in the display so there is nothing to show you.

Q. I passed a police vehicle above the speed limit. The officer didn’t stop me, can they give me a ticket later from my licence plate?

No. The officer would have to come to your house, identify you as the driver of the vehicle that passed him and issue you a ticket. Although it’s possible, it doesn't’t happen, if the police didn’t pull you over at the time they are not going to give you a speeding ticket later.

The officer cannot just put a ticket in the mail for you for speeding.

Q. The officer was rude and disrespectful to me, I didn’t like his attitude. Is there any thing I can do about this, will it help my case in court?

  1. The Justice of the Peace will not be concerned about the officer’s mannerism upon stopping you. The Justice of the Peace will tell you that the venue for complains about the officer should be directed to the police department management.
  2. If you are going to make a complainant be advised that making a complaint about the conduct of the officer will ensure that the police management or his superiors carefully follow your case. The police management and Complaint Bureau of the police department will ensure that everything is done properly, and that the officer is there to give evidence for your trial. Make complaints with caution.

Q. The officer reduced my speeding ticket, he said if I fight the ticket he will put the speed back up. Can I still ask for a trial?

The officer himself cannot put the speed back up to the original speed on the speeding ticket. Only the prosecutor at court can ask the Justice of the Peace to do so.

You should discuss this speeding ticket with your agent from OTT Legal Services There are many reasons other than the obvious why an officer reduces a speeding ticket. These reasons could help us win your ticket in court.

Reducing the amount of the speed is totally up to the officer, it is his discretion as to what to put on the speeding ticket. Sometimes the officer does this to give you a break other times they do this for hidden reasons that only a qualified court agent who was a traffic cop would know. This is one of the reasons why experienced former police officers like the agents of OTT Legal have been so successful in court. They know the inner workings behind the issuing of a traffic ticket. Make sure the agent who represents you has this experience.

As some might want to you to believe, officers don’t bluff, it’s considered a criminal offence for the officer to make up a speed. With another speeding car coming down the road right behind you Police Officers don’t do this.

An officer can say in his evidence at court that he recorded you at a higher speed but then reduced the speed on the ticket. The prosecutor or Justice of the Peace may ask him why he did this, but the officer can just say that he was just trying to do you a favor or to account for any possible error.

This is completely normal and an acceptable practice for officers to do.

Q. I might have admitted my speed to the officer, will he use it against me in court?

A. No. For a speeding trial the officer is not going to use any statements against you in court.

The police normally do not use statements in speeding trials or tell the Justice of the Peace what you may have said. Its not relevant to the case and the Justice of the Peace will not want to hear this evidence.

When your agent from OTT Legal Services applies for the disclosure for your case if there are any statements they would be in the officers notes. Having written thousands of speeding tickets and examined thousands of disclosures, statements of guilt are not record by officers for speeding tickets.

Q. The officer wasn't on the street but was on private property. Is he allowed to do this? Is this considered trespassing and does it affect the ticket?

  1. The officer can write speeding tickets or set up radar on any location he wants. If the property owner came out and asked the officer to move off his property the officer would have to do so. The location does not affect the validity of any speeding ticket or traffic ticket.
  2. The property owners consent or lack thereof is NOT vital to the case.


Q. What if I can’t make my trial date?

A: You can ask for an adjournment. Adjournments have to be made in writing and need to be served on the court and the prosecutor three clear days before the trial or adjournment date. Someone has to appear for you on that date. You cannot do this by mail.

Q: I missed the court date. What will happen to me?

A: If you don't appear for your trial date you will be found guilty as a person who failed to respond to the ticket/summons.

A conviction will be entered in your absence, and you will be required to pay the fine within 15 days of the conviction. Convictions stay on your record for three years from the date of offence and are available for your insurance company to access and use to base your insurance rates upon.

If you are convicted through no fault of your own you can apply within 15 days to the court asking the Justice of the Peace to “Reopen” your speeding ticket. A reopening has to be done in person and the defendant must swear to an affidavit detailing the reasons for the conviction.

Q. I wasn't’t going as fast as the officer said, is this a defense to the charge?

A. If you get on the stand and say that you were not speeding as fast as the officer says you were then you will have given evidence to convict yourself. Remember the phase, the man who defends himself has a fool for a lawyer? (see defenses to speeding)

The prosecutor will ask you, “How fast were you traveling then?” If you respond saying, well the officer said I was doing twenty five over the limit, but I was only going fifteen over the limit, then you will be admitting that your were speeding. You’re convicting yourself.

The prosecutor will tell the Justice of the Peace that you are admitting to the offence.

The offence before the court is “Speeding” no matter how much you are over the limit, if you’re driving one kilometer faster than the speeding limit your speeding. The measurement of speed by the police is only used to access a penalty, or to determine "how much you were speeding". If you represent yourself and make this sort of statement the Justice of the Peace has no alternative but to convict you of the offence, and find you Guilty.

You should not take the stand in a trial unless you can swear on a bible, or under oath that you were not speeding even one kilometer over the limit. Otherwise you will convict yourself.

It is a criminal offence to lie, or mislead the court to the court during a trial.

Q. Can I dispute the speeding ticket by saying that my speedometer was off?

A. It is not a defense to the charge of speeding to say that your speedometer was not working. A speedometer is not a required piece of equipment in a motor vehicle. You are always responsible for the speed of your vehicle.

It is not a defense to say you didn’t know or you did it by mistake. In Canada ignorance of the law is not a defense.

Q: Can I take photographs and present them to the court?

A. Photographs are not usually accepted because they can be altered. They may be accepted by the court if you can qualify them and show how they are relevant to your case. You will have to provide evidence to the court as to time, date and location. The court does not care about the make and model of your camera. If you are going to use photographs make sure you take lots of pictures and notes about their use.

Q. Does radar or laser make mistakes? Is there a defense to the charge?

A. Any instrument can make mistakes. Radar and laser is accurate to plus or minus one percent, so if you were stopped at 100km/h the speed may have been 101/km/h or 99km/h. The operator can make mistakes too but you have to know the questions to ask in a trial.

In a speeding trial an officer has to cover approximately thirty points to prove the court case. If the officer can do this properly no one can win the case, and the Justice of the Peace has to enter a conviction. Speeding ticket trials are won on technicalities presented properly before the court by persons experienced and knowledgeable in law.

Speeding trials are won from knowing all the issues about the operation of radar, qualifications together and disputing the essential elements of a speeding charge. The officer must provide the evidence to the court beyond or without reasonable doubt.

If you don’t know how the radar works, the qualifications required by the officers, testing procedures required, rules of evidence, what a leading question is and what is hearsay evidence you are not qualified to run a trial and defend yourself.

Speeding trials are based on technical aspects of procedure and law. If you don’t know all of the issues you will be convicted. You need to have experience and knowledge to conduct a speeding trial. If you don’t know what a filing date is, the proper set fine, or the service boxes, then you’re not qualified to defend yourself. You need the help of the qualified agents of OTT Legal Services

Remember the officer probably has given evidence before the court hundreds of times, how many speeding trials has the person who received the ticket run.

Q: My trial is scheduled way beyond the offence date. What can I do?

A. The answer is sit and wait. If the time is excessive you may want to consider making an 11b Application. Otherwise the delay can work in your favor. While the case is coming to court the ticket is not on your record. Neither the Ministry of Transportation nor your insurance company will know about the pending trial and or conviction.

Any demerit points or conviction that may be assessed are for two years for points from the date of the offence. So if your case takes six months to come to court, even if you were convicted the six month would come off the period the points are on your record. Subsequently two years minus the six months awaiting trial means that the demerit points would only be on your record for one and one half years, not the two years.

As well this delay awaiting trial may mean that your insurance company may not know about the charge for and extended period of time. Long trial dates are good for a defendant, who knows where the Police Officer will be six months down the road, some even retire leaving hundreds of tickets in the system to be dismissed.

Q. The ticket has taken a long time to come to court. Is there a time limit?

A. The court has somewhere between eleven months and fourteen months depending upon the court and jurisdiction to get your case heard. The accepted amount of time is usually twelve months or more.

If your case takes too long to come to trial you can apply for a “stay of proceedings” under section 11b of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

To do this you must prepare a written motion, serve a copy of it on the Attorney General of Canada and the Attorney General of Ontario within fifteen clear days of your trial date. The application must be accompanied with an affidavit of service and must be served on the court and the provincial prosecutor

On the trial date you must present and argue the motion to the Justice of the Peace. There are four essential elements to this form of motion. It is not simple to do and requires someone with training and expertise to speak to the court. This preparation and presentation is best done by a qualified agent such as found with OTT Legal Services

OTT Legal Services has successfully won thousands of speeding tickets, and we are the best company to win your court case. Call us at 1-888-668-8946 to discuss your speeding ticket in confidence with our former police officers and licenced paralegals

On May 1st, 2007, The Law Society of Upper Canada became responsible for regulating the paralegal profession including all speeding ticket companies, and anyone who represents others to fight speeding tickets in Ontario, through the Law Society Act brought about by Bill 14. This means that all Ontario speeding ticket companies providing legal services require a license. Errors and Omissions insurance is now a requirement to run a speeding ticket company and to a fight speeding ticket or speeding tickets. OTT is fully licenced and insured to represent your traffic ticket and speeding ticket charge.

Why Risk Losing? Call For A Free Consultation 1-866-668-8946 or Email Your Request