Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Top 10 Ways to Avoid a Speeding Ticket


As a former Traffic Cop who now fights speeding tickets many times people ask me is there some trick to radar or laser or is there some special way to beat these traffic tickets at court?

Although there are lots of ways to fight your speeding ticket with OTT Legal probably the best way is to not get the ticket in the first place. So here is my top ten ways to avoid a speeding ticket.

1. Don't Speed, yes its obvious but if you set in your mind a mental picture to follow the speed limit you avoid getting the ticket in the first place. Be cognizant about what the speed limit is. If you don't see a sign then in the city the speed limit is always 50 and in the country it's 80km/h.

2. Avoid being the lead vehicle. The police target the traffic coming towards them. If you're the first car and you're speeding, you're the person that's going to get stopped first. If you know you're speeding try to get another faster car in front of you, so that they get stopped not you.

3. Stay out of the passing lane. Many times the police target the passing lane because that's where the faster vehicles are driving. Try to stay in the curb lane as much as possible. If your on the highway many times the police just target the fast lane, because its dangerous for them to go across lanes trying to get you stopped.

4. Look ahead. If you look down the road sometimes you can see the police car before the officer can target you with the radar gun. Typically the police are targeting vehicles around the 300 metre mark. If you see a police vehicle on the roadway slow down well before you reach it.

5. Slow down going over or down hills. The police like hills, because you have to either push on the gas going up the hill or the vehicle naturally accelerates going down. Also you can't always see a police vehicle stopped behind hill, slow down at hills.

6. Watch the Ramps. While traveling on the highways watch as you come up to ramps. The police like to sit on the ramps because it gives them a higher elevation to look down onto the highway and its a safe spot to sit.

The down side for the officer is that most of the time the radar or laser can only look forward or ahead of the police car. You have to pass the police car or ramp before the officer can target your vehicle.

As you drive down the highway watch the ramps for police vehicles and you should be able to slow down before the officer can catch you speeding.

7. Use your cruise control. If you set the cruise control at or near the limit you avoid going over the speed limit inadvertently.

8. Go no more than 10 or 15 kilometres over the limit.

Although not always the case most police officers set a buffer of about 15 to 20 as an acceptable amount over the speed limit. After going past this you leave yourself open to being caught.

9. Once your stopped for speeding, if you can get out and speak with the officer.

The more you talk to the officer and explain what happened or if you have an excuse or story to tell, the higher the chance that the officer will let you off with a warning. If you say nothing then for sure you will receive the ticket. Although some officers will not even want you to get out of the vehicle, if you can talk to the officer.

10. If you do talk to the officer, be polite and acknowledge that you were speeding. You will gain nothing by being rude or disrespectful to the officer.

If you do receive a speeding ticket give us a call at OTT Legal to fight your ticket to win!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Fighting Speeding Tickets - News

The Province of Ontario is set to make fighting speeding tickets and traffic tickets even more difficult for Ontario drivers.

For anyone who has tried to fight a traffic ticket in the GTA they know that the province and municipalities go out of their way to frustrate motorists and to make fighting a traffic ticket difficult.

First they removed all the night court, so that you had to take a day off work, you have to pay and fight to find a parking spot and then stand for up to 2 hours at some courts to just hand in your ticket.

Toronto courts take up to a year to come to trial and the court room is packed, even most Toronto Prosecutors are frustrated with the traffic ticket system in Toronto.

Now the court are passing a new ruling this spring. The new ruling will mean that if you want to fight your traffic ticket you have to go and file or request a court date. To do so you have to file the ticket or speeding ticket at the court or jurisdiction that the police officer issued the ticket is from.

For example, say your from Toronto but you drive to Windsor, while in Windsor you receive a speeding ticket on a weekend.

The courts are closed in Windsor and throughout Ontario on the weekends, but you want to fight the speeding ticket. The new ruling will mean that you have to drive to Windsor, (where the ticket was issued) and personally hand in the ticket and request a trial date!

You used to be able to attend at any court in Ontario, (they are all on the same computer system) and hand in your ticket within 15 days of the offense. Not anymore...

Just another ongoing layer of frustration the traffic courts have added to the process of defending yourself in court.

The reasoning? Just to make it harder for you and to encourage you to pay the fine.

OTT Legal has offices and contacts throughout Ontario so that we can personally file your ticket at the court within the 15 day requirement. If you have any traffic tickets give OTT Legal a call.