If you’ve been pulled over for speeding in Ontario (by speed camera or speed detector), there are a few things you absolutely must do. Don’t make mistakes when you’re caught speeding. Stay calm, don’t argue with the police officer, call a lawyer, and defend yourself against the speeding offence to avoid major issues in the future.
Cooperate With the Officer
The worst thing any driver can do when pulled over to the side of the road for a speeding offence is to talk back to the police officer and behave in a disrespectful manner. The officer is in a position to make a decision about how to treat you, and whether that’s fair or not, it’s important to act in your own best interest when you’re caught speeding. Sometimes, officers may give you a verbal or written warning instead of an actual ticket, but this is most likely not going to happen if you’re rude and combative. In fact, if you treat the officer with disrespect, they may decide to write you up on other charges adding to the penalty points and more fines on top of the basic speeding fine.
So, when you’re caught speeding, pull over in a safe place, give the officer the information they ask for and if you can’t be polite, then be quiet. Very few people would volunteer to be pulled over for speeding, so it’s not a social interaction that’s expected to be pleasant. But you can do yourself some favors by trying to be as easy to work with as possible. If your driving record is clean and you weren’t going very fast, you could end up driving away with no ticket at all.
Inspect Your Ticket
In most cases, though, you’ll get ticketed with a formal citation if you’re caught speeding in Ontario. Your ticket should include information that lets you know what you’re accused of doing and what the potential consequences are, including fines. The total amount of money owed will likely include both the fine and some fees for court processing and a victim fine surcharge, which is a standard fee applied to all tickets in Ontario.
Make sure the information on the ticket is correct according to your understanding of what you honestly remember happening. If the officer caught you driving 60 KPH over the speed limit, you probably aren’t going to be able to reasonably argue that you weren’t speeding at all unless you can somehow prove that the officer’s equipment wasn’t working properly. But if you were going 30 over, you and the officer discussed the fact that you were going 30 over and the ticket reads 60, you could have a reasonable point of argument.
Don’t Pay the Fine…Yet
We aren’t advocating that you ignore your ticket. That’s the last thing you should do. But paying the fine without taking any other action can be a grave mistake. In Ontario, paying a speeding ticket fine is equivalent to pleading guilty. You’re admitting that you committed a crime and it becomes part of your driving record. Demerits and other penalties will officially apply immediately after you’ve “pled guilty” by default and your insurance premiums may go up as a result of you having a guilty conviction for a traffic offence.
Paying the fine is also a bad idea because you may be able to have the ticket dismissed in court. This is especially true if you’ve committed a first offence and otherwise have a clean driving record. Fighting in court is the only way to know for sure whether you can have the charges reduced or dismissed. Ideally, you’ll hire a lawyer to help with this.
When it’s all said and done, you may still owe some money. But it’s not a good idea to pay the fine until you’ve talked to a lawyer and had your day in court. Remember: paying is admitting guilt. There’s no way to undo that. So don’t jump the gun, even if paying seems like the right thing to do. Take the next step, getting in touch with a lawyer, before you even think about paying a fine.
Get in Touch With a Lawyer
Given the potential consequences of paying the fine associated with your speeding ticket, your best bet is to fight against the charge in court. Ideally, the speeding charge will be dismissed and you won’t have to pay the fine. Is it possible for you to fight alone and achieve this outcome? In theory, yes. But is it likely? No. That’s why you need a lawyer.
One important thing to note: you really should get in touch with a lawyer before your fine is due and before you have an official court date. A lawyer can certainly help you make the most of it if you miss these dates, but it’s best for you if you don’t wait. The sooner you get a lawyer on the case, the better the outcome is likely to be for you.
The exact outcome you can expect will depend heavily on your individual circumstances, including both what you’re charged with and what your driving record is. If you were charged with going 60 kilometers over the speed limit in front of a nursery school and this is your fifth such offence, you probably aren’t going to get that charge dismissed. But a lawyer can still help mitigate the damage and will work with the court more effectively than you could on your own.
Ultimately, this is the most important step to take after you get a speeding ticket in Ontario. The laws in this province make it clear that driving is a privilege, not a right. No matter what your life circumstances are, the laws apply to you. Pleading your case in front of a judge, even if your story is genuine and you really need to be able to drive to survive, may not help. Paying the fine and admitting guilt without even trying to fight the ticket also isn’t a good idea, and ignoring the ticket altogether is even worse. Your best option in this scenario is to get help from a qualified legal professional who knows the ropes and has years of successful experience navigating traffic violation disputes in court.
Speeding is a common offence, but that doesn’t mean its effects aren’t damaging. When you’re caught speeding, you need to act immediately to protect yourself. Call us before you do anything else. We’re here to help.
How Much is a Speeding Ticket and How Will It Affect Your Insurance?
Speeding tickets are among the most common legal issues Canadian drivers face. From rushing to work to simply missing the signs indicating a reduced speed limit, it’s all too easy to get ticketed for driving faster than legally allowed. Even though this is common, it’s still a violation of traffic laws, so the penalties that come with a speeding ticket can be pretty severe. The fines alone can be quite expensive, but that’s not where your problems end when you’re busted for speeding. Demerit points and higher insurance premiums are also within the realm of possibility. Learn more about speeding ticket costs in Ontario and how you can avoid the hassle associated with a speeding charge.
Ontario Speeding Ticket Costs
Speeding ticket fines are a bit complex in Ontario, but on a high level, the cost of a speeding ticket correlates both to how fast you were going and where you were driving. The way you’re caught can also have an impact.
As described in the Highway Traffic Act, drivers in Ontario pay fines based on 5 categories:
- Speeding
- Speeding (photo radar)
- Speeding in a community safety zone
- Speeding in a construction zone
- Speeding in a construction zone (workers present)
In each of these categories, fines are mostly assessed according to a set dollar amount per kilometer per hour (KPH) over the speed limit. In all categories, the lowest-penalty category is for drivers going 1 to 19 KPH over the speed limit, though the dollar amount associated with the fine varies by category. The lowest-cost penalty is $2.50 per kilometer over and it applies to the standard, photo radar, and construction zone categories. 1 to 19 KPH over charges in the community safety zone and construction zone (workers present) categories are both $5.00. So, if you’re caught driving 15 over in a Community Safety Zone, your fine will be $75.
Penalties go up from there, with the highest flat penalty range being 30 to 49 KPH over in most categories. The fee is $6.00 per kilometer on the low end and $12.00 per kilometer on the high end. Using the example above, if you’re caught going 40 over in a Community Safety Zone, your fine will be $480.
Because fee schedules can vary so widely based on where you are and how fast you’re going when you’re caught (and how you’re caught), it’s impossible to give a set answer to how much a speeding ticket costs in Ontario. But the courts do make fee schedules available online, so you should be able to determine whether your fine is fair according to the law.
Don’t be surprised, though, if the total amount you owe is higher than what your math shows based on your charge. Tickets include not only the fine amount but also associated fees, which include court costs and the Ontario victim fine surcharge. This means your total payable is likely to be quite high, especially if you’re going very fast where you really shouldn’t be.
Insurance: Why You Shouldn’t Just Pay the Fine
If you’re lucky enough, the fine you incur as a result of your speeding ticket may actually be affordable, even with all the extra costs factored in. So, why not just pay it? One simple answer: insurance.
When you pay the fine associated with a speeding ticket in Ontario, the court takes that payment as an admission of guilt resulting in an automatic conviction. That means that you are essentially admitting fault by doing what seems like the right thing: paying the fine and moving on. From a certain perspective, it’s hard to see what’s wrong with that. Admitting guilt can be morally or ethically valuable in many circumstances. However, this formal admission of guilt brings a legal conviction with it, and that has wide-ranging consequences for drivers.
First, depending on how fast you were going, you may get some demerit points on your license. In Ontario, demerit points last for two years and can have a negative impact on your life in several ways, particularly if you get enough of them. Demerits can come with additional fees and may result in license suspension. Plus, if driving is part of your job, this isn’t something you want on your driving record.
In addition to this, though, and perhaps most important, auto insurance companies do not look kindly on this kind of traffic violation. Speeding is dangerous and it’s proof to an insurance company that you’re a risk. Insurance companies aren’t charitable enterprises. They’re always trying to protect their bottom line. So, if you set of red flags indicating you’re likely to cost them money, your insurance company will raise your rates. You don’t even need to go fast enough to earn demerits. Any conviction will go on your driving record and your insurance company regularly checks on this information to set your rates.
Investing in Legal Services
In theory, you can fight the traffic ticket yourself in court, but that isn’t likely to get you very far unless you really can prove that you weren’t speeding. However, with an experienced lawyer on your side, you don’t really need to worry about that. Lawyers with traffic violation experience know what to say and do in a courtroom have charges reduced, changed or thrown out entirely.
This means spending money on a lawyer and that’s part of the reason some people figure they should just pay the fine and get it over with. However, given the total cost not only of the fine and associated fees but the raise in car insurance rates and potential impact on your career, lawyer’s fees are small change. Plus, if you work with an experienced attorney, your legal fees may be the only cost associated with the ticket. Your results may depend on the nature of the charge, your driving record and other factors, but you could end up with no charge, no fine, no conviction and no impact on your monthly car insurance bill. That’s worth a small up-front investment in professional legal services.
Facing a speeding ticket in Ontario? Contact the Law Firm of Ted Yoannou before you pay. We help clients across Ontario, including Toronto, fight speeding and HTA charges.