Why was I charged in Ontario even though the judge said I wasn't going to be?
Hi there, I'm an 18 year old college student in ONTARIO, Canada. In October of 2008 I was charged for "Street Racing", and I was actually just speeding. Anyways, I went to court twice and I even had a meeting with the Crown Attorney about the punishment for the crime. The Crown Attorney and the judge BOTH AGREED that the punishment would be a $2000 fine, with ZERO demerit points and NO license suspension. I just got a letter from the Ministry of Transportation on Friday (two months after my last court date) saying that I have SIX (6) demerit points and I have to attend a meeting in April to discuss with the court whether or not my license should be suspended for 6 months. Now, is it just me, or does that make no sense at all? The judge and crown attorney both agreed I would only be charged $2000 and receive no license suspension and no demerit points, yet the MTO says I have 6 demerit points and I have to go for a meeting about whether or not my license should be suspended further. I was on hold with the MTO for literally 50 minutes before I talked to someone, and then I was transferred to another person and put on hold for another 30 minutes. The woman on the phone literally told me that "the judge has no say regarding traffic violations". What the f*?!k am I supposed to do? This is absolutely ridiculous. I moved to Ontario expected a fair legal system. Instead, I got this a** backwards system where a judge's decision doesn't have any power. Thank you both of you very much!!! You honestly just made my day =) lol don't worry you didn't ruin my day. I already had court in January about this and the judge settled it at $2000. Both her and the MTO agree on that. The only thing they disagree on is the license suspension and the demerit points thing.
Public Comments
- Contact the court, and get a copy of the order that states that you won't have demerit points, and send that to the MTO. The woman at the MTO who said that the judge has no say in the matter doesn't know what she's talking about. If you don't get it resolved, try to get them to say that in writing, and send it to the judge's clerk. One universal constant is that no judge likes to have someone question their authority.
- That's crazy. I'll contact the judge/court and get this resolved ASAP.
- well i hate to ruin your day i live in Ontario first if u are charged with Street racing they take your car on the spot and your licence and u get a fine max;fine 10000 dollars after court does not matter what the judge or crown say mto can and will take your licence for the same length of time or more they work independent of the court i don't even think u can appeal their decision ont street racing law is harsh sorry to ruin your day
- Well, you're actually pretty lucky. In Ontario, if you get caught street racing, you can get your car taken away from you permanently, and in some cases, the judge has ordered the car crushed. Eeek. Just regular speeding over 150 clicks, and you lose your car for one week and can pay a fine anywhere up to $10,000. The demerit points are, I think, pretty automatic. If you speed a certain amount, you have to lose points. I was once caught doing 16 clicks over, and the cop lowered it on the ticket to 14, so that I wouldn't automatically lose points. So I'm not sure what happened in your case. Maybe he meant no additional points or something. But yeah, get the judges order in writing, because it would be really hard for anyone to contest that, and in any case, it should clear up the meaning of what he said. Go to the MTO in person, and request politely to talk to a manager or someone who deals with legal disputes. Phone people are usually not high on the ladder of authority and answers. They can answer basic questions, but probably don't have the legal expertise to deal with a court ruling. Good luck!
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