When Speeding Tickets Go Wrong

Woo-Hoo! Congratulations, John.
You are the first person I know to beat the system. :)

I wish I will be just as lucky on June 22, when I appear in court to protest ridiculous speeding ticket.

Best,
 
Its a long story, but like everything else in the Province of Quebec, when road construction/maintenance takes place, it is barely seen to drivers. I was going on in my lane, and I suddenly see a huge metal sign lying on the ground, so to avoid collision, I had to either slam on breaks or change lanes. The guy in the left lane has probably noticed that I was heading toward it, so he used breaks to give me enough space to get ahead and switch lanes. To get there "on time", I had to press on gas, which of course, put me over the speed limit... that's when the police officer decided I was speeding. Even though I explained what happened and I offered to go back for me to show the sign; or at least recommended to him to fix it for other drivers not to be in the same danger, 10 minutes later when I went back, the sign was still on the ground. He was more interested in filling his ticket "quota" for the day I believe, and his irresponsibility to keep roads safe stunned me!

I have witnesses (in my car), I have pictures of construction zone sign on the ground, and I have an impeccable driving record since I started driving (not one ticket). If anything, I am the safest driver this country has. It is not even the money that matters (which I was planning to fight for anyway) - it is the 2 points he issued!! No way would I accept that.
 
Good luck Art! Perhaps you should have your friend that was driving the other vehicle come to court with you to help explain what happened. :)

And in one of my cases where a ticket was wrongfully issued, I fought and won because the officer failed to show.
 
There is no love lost between myself & the Quebec Police.

I was driving in a "convoy" of 4 cars on the stretch of highway between New Brunswick & Riviere du Loup (sic?) about 12 years ago. We were all really "pushing the speed limit" ... in other words speeding like bats out of hell. And we each took turns "out in front" ... so we each "shared the risk". It was in the wee hours of the morning and there was absolutely NO traffic ... so it was clear sailing.

The other 3 cars were from Quebec ... I of course from Ontario. I was in the #3 spot when we saw the lights in the rear view mirror. "Normally" ... they would have ticketed the lead car or all 4 of us. But the only one that got ticketed was me. That REALLY peed me off.

On my trips back & forth to the coast I would at least fill up the car a couple times in Quebec ... eat a meal ... sometimes spend 2, 3 or 4 days in Quebec City or Montreal. I haven't spent one single dollar in Quebec since that happened. Pretty easy since I became disabled a couple years after. But in the time between ... I started going through the north eastern USA and into New Brunswick that way. It took longer, cost more money ... but no way in heck was I going to spend any money in Quebec.

Kind of petty on my part, I guess, but thats how peed off I was at the Quebec Police. At that time it was just a $$$ fine ... no points ... because Quebec didn't share info with Ontario. Don't know if that part has changed in recent years or not. Made them wait almost 2 years for me to pay the ticket too. Eventually they sent it to a collection agency ... I bargained the dollar amount down to 1/2 what it was ... no interest and no report to the credit bureau. So I felt like I got a bit of "revenge". :)

I doubt if my "warped strategy" would have worked if I was living in Quebec though.

As for your case Artashes ... I would definitely fight it. Take your pics & witnesses to your court date. I am sure they will throw it out. If they don't ... then the judge is as much an idiot as the police were.

JMHO
Peter
 
pmhoran said:
the judge is as much an idiot as the police were.
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I would not be surprised since they are one of the "locals". Also because I am Russian, I expect to be discriminated against already. I call Quebec the extortion state (province).
 
Sometimes I think the only people NOT discriminated against in Quebec are those born in Quebec of French anscestry and those born right in France that move to Quebec. Its a mindset that I find more and more troubling as the years pass. It seems the younger generations are becoming even less tolerant of "outsiders".

JMHO
Peter
 
Peter, I've been living here for close to 6 years and noted different things. First, the French from France are not really fond of the French from Quebec, primarily because of their accent. If you listen to Quebec French - its not as soundy as the "real" French you've heard. Secondly, Quebecois discriminate not against poor, but rich people, by cheating them when possible and increasing their taxes through social platforms where they can. In the past 2 years alone, certain taxes on rich living have more than doubled. To the point that people in good neighborhoods of the city I am living in are planning a class-action suit against the city government. Something tells me they are NOT going to get anywhere with it. Quebec courts, and city staff are extremely discriminatory as well, and is nothing more than a cash generating machine for the gov. I have seen it happen to someone I know, and although I didn't want to believe them, I then later experienced it on my own.

Take private sector for example. Quebec companies are also highly selective (more than needed) when it comes to hiring practices. Preferences are always given to Quebecois. Here I can just throw ANY number of examples at you. I've also spoken with a local university professor about this and he was the one to completely support this, with stories and examples no less interesting.

Perhaps because of all this, the Quebec province has been performing bottom-poor, it has one of the largest debts, there are no jobs (at least for anyone else but Quebecois), productivity and work performances of the hired people are so low that companies are losing clients all the time... to be honest, in the last 2-3 years the city of Montreal took a huge fall down, and the decline will continue. One of the reasons a lot of English-speaking people are living the province. Something that is on my own 5-year term to-do list.

Best,
 
I know the province and even a lot of companies were making it VERY difficult to do business in the province and with Quebec companies. Back 11 - 12 years ago when I was still running the company in Toronto ... we had a branch office in a suburb of Montreal that serviced the whole of Quebec.

Then we started getting demands that we change our labelling of our products so the French was first and in larger font than the English. Then our customers & distributors in Quebec started making similar demands as well as changes to our invoicing etc.

It got so ridiculous that I just shut the office down. The demands & hassles just weren't worth it. We still sold extensively throughout Quebec & the sales staff all remained ... but instead of working out a Montreal area office ... they now were supervised directly from Toronto. So ... a few jobs were lost from the office & the small warehouse there. All because of Quebecois stupidity ... in my opinion.

So the problems there have been going on for a number of years ... and just getting worse from the sounds of it.

Can't help thinking that all of it is just leading up to another "separation threat" and referendum.

Oops ... just realized. Talk about "highjacking a thread" hehehe. Sorry.

Take care
Peter
 
pmhoran said:
Can't help thinking that all of it is just leading up to another "separation threat" and referendum.
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That, of course, would be the ultimate suicide. See, they want to separate and keep all the federal property. I say, if you want to separate - please go ahead, I will only keep all the manufacturing power, power, communication lines, machinery, organizations, social benefits etc. that belongs to Canada. THEN it would be the responsibility of Quebec to do and provide all the above, along with supporting/financing their own army, to the people of Quebec.

If that happens, however, I'll be first to leave.
 
Ref: http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/38487-post23.html

Just if anyone is wondering, I was acquitted today on the speeding ticket case. Today was the day for me to show up in court to contest my case (the only speeding ticket with 2 points I have ever received in my life), so after serious preparations, collection of evidence and witness in the court I was ready for a battle. However, I ended up not even opening my mouth - when the prosecution took the case, there was no evidence of the laser gun pointing the speed I was going at attached. Looks like the police officer forgot to process that evidence. So I was acquitted on the spot. Time spent in court: 4 minutes. Money spent in bar afterward: 30% of the ticket amount. Result: 70% of money saved.

Best,
 
Money spent in bar afterward: 30% of the ticket amount. Result: 70% of money saved.
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Congratulations Art! :D

Still, it's worrying that one who might be guilty could actually get away so easily. Where's the professionalism of the police officer(s)?
 
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