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I am Canadian and I live in Ontario, I have my G2 license, and this is my first speeding ticket. I'm a pretty fast driver, but I think I drive defensively if that makes any sense. I always follow far behind other vehicles, I slow my car far before I reach a stop sign or red light, and I never drive with a vehicle immediately to the left or right of me so that if I had to swerve for whatever reason I wouldn't hit the other car.
I was driving in a 50 km/h zone, doing 70 km/h. I usually keep my eyes peeled for police officers, as it's pretty much known in this city where they catch people. However it's the mid of winter, I couldn't too clearly out of the windshield and it was 7:30 a.m so I didn't see an officer parked off of main street on a side road. He clocks me speeding at 20 km/h over the limit and pulls me over.
I've never been pulled over before, so I didn't know what to expect. He was a nice guy, when I told him I was on my way to Brock he said, "Oh, I went there, when's your class?" and I replied, "8:00". I quickly realized that I was only fifteen minutes away from the school and it was only 7:25, so it was obvious my speeding wasn't because I was late, he would know that this is just how I drive. So like an idiot I say, "But I have to be there for 7:50", as if he's going to be like, Oh wow, you better get going! and let me off with a warning.
Any way, considering I needed to get going, I had to wait about 20 minutes in my car as he did whatever an officer does in his car when he writes a ticket. Mean while I have my window rolled down and I can see people just staring at me from their cars as they go by. I started thinking, 'Look at these people, just wanting to get a glimpse at the kind of person who gets pulled over', then I realized I do the same fucking thing all the time, as if I will see the drivers face and be like, oh, that's why he got pulled over, as if his/her face reveals something.
The officer comes back and explained the ticket to me, he said he reduced the fine to $95.00 from $295.00. I don't know if that's true, or maybe I misheard him, but after he said that I had some hope that maybe this was simply a ticket and that I wouldn't gain any points on my license. So I asked and it turns out I do indeed get three points on my license. For those who don't know, in Ontario, if you accumulate two points you get a warning letter in the mail, and if you get six points, they take away your license for a month. Suffice to say if I get pulled over again, I won't be able to drive, and considering I live thirty minutes from school, that would be a big, big problem.
So I was late to my class that I was going to (ironic considering I was speeding on the way there even though I didn't need to, and that's what caused me to arrive late) and decided I would look up some information on speeding tickets and how they affect your insurance rates. AFAIK, 'my' car is under my dad's name, and I labelled as an occasional driver. I read some information online from seemingly credible sources (which is how I found out about the demerit points), and some sources say you probably won't see an increase on your insurance, while others say you definitely will.
The question I pose to those in Canada is as follows: Have you ever received a speeding ticket? How did your first ticket affect your insurance rate? Will this hurt my dad's insurance as well? At this point I am more anxious about telling my dad I got a ticket, because he busts my balls all the time about my speeding and I fucked up.
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TL;DR: I received a speeding ticket on my dad's car, and I am listed as the occasional driver. This my first ticket, and I received three demerit points along with it. Can I expect my insurance rate to increase? Any idea how much? What about my dad's insurance?
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none yet, I always drive 20km\h over the limits when the limits of 60km\h or more (expect for the morning when the trafic it self go at 130km\h)
I Arleady come REALLY close to. I was speeding with another car at 100km\h in a 50km\h route and a cops cross road us. we both hit the brake, cops turn his light on and do a U turn. We are both at a red light so we are pretty much doom. Luckly, I was in the left road when the other dudes was in the right road so the cops only took him and I ran away =)
God I was scare ( I was like 17 years old by that time)
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It's true he reduced it because there's no way a speeding ticket is $95.00. Take it to court, you can get your demerit points reduced and the cost reduced a bit as long as you tell them some bullshit story.
Your insurance on the car will go up because you are listed as a driver on it but not sure how much. Your dads insurance however will stay the same.
EDIT: Insurance really depends on the company, sometimes they don't even both to check how many demerit points you have and your points don't go up at all. But, I do know if you take it to court (where you just talk to this one person) you can get the $95 reduced to probably $50 and the 3 demerit points reduced to probably just 1 demerit point or 2.
Also there are these speeding classes that you can take that subtract demerit points from your "account" assuming you pass the class. Not sure where you sign up for those though.
Hope this help, I've been caught speeding way too many times by cops and by cameras (probably $1000+ so far) and I have 5 demerit points, 1 more and I'm screwed, but I plan to take the speeding class soon to take off a few points. 
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On February 10 2010 22:58 kOre wrote:
It's true he reduced it because there's no way a speeding ticket is $95.00. Take it to court, you can get your demerit points reduced and the cost reduced a bit as long as you tell them some bullshit story.
Your insurance on the car will go up because you are listed as a driver on it but not sure how much. Your dads insurance however will stay the same.
I suppose our Brock University connection saved me a little bit on money, that's some good news, pays (or should I say saves?) to be polite to officers I suppose. IDK what kind of story I could give, IIRC the exact words the officer said to me when explaining the ticket was:
"You have three options, you can choose to plead guilty to the offense and the payment of $95.00; you can plead innocent, or you can plead guilty with an excuse, but I caught you with the radar just back there so..."
I think he was trying to say, 'What story could you possibly have?' I am aware that the officer doesn't submit and cannot testify to what I told him when he pulled me over. I more or less admitted to him that I was speeding, but like I said, that wouldn't be brought up in court apparently. I am interested in reducing my demerit points however, and I am happy to hear about my dad's insurance rates. I wasn't really concerned with what happened to my insurance all that much, but more for his. He runs a business and owns multiple trucks, so an increase on his insurance will wind up costing him a lot of money.
EDIT: Thanks Kore, I will have to tell my parents about the ticket any way, so I will take what they say into consideration when deciding what to do. I am most concerned about the demerit points and the insurance rates, the fine doesn't concern me all that much. Thanks again.
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I edited my post with some extra information.
To be honest you could say something like, "I had a lab/tutorial at 8:00 AM and needed to get there early to ask the TA some questions I didn't understand" or some crap like that.
So pretty much what you'd be doing is pleading guilty with an excuse. You don't actually show up in court (like that room with an attorney and all that crap with a giant crowd), but it's more like a small room where you talk to this 1 person telling them what happened and they would reduce it or tell you to pay the full amount.
Overall, it doesn't hurt to take it to the place because there's a large chance you'll get your points and speeding ticket reduced.
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On February 10 2010 23:14 kOre wrote:
To be honest you could say something like, "I had a lab/tutorial at 8:00 AM and needed to get there early to ask the TA some questions I didn't understand" or some crap like that.
So pretty much what you'd be doing is pleading guilty with an excuse. You don't actually show up in court (like that room with an attorney and all that crap with a giant crowd), but it's more like a small room where you talk to this 1 person telling them what happened and they would reduce it or tell you to pay the full amount.
Overall, it doesn't hurt to take it to the place because there's a large chance you'll get your points and speeding ticket reduced.
I suppose it can't hurt, it's not like they can raise my fine or demerit points for giving a bad excuse. It's better than nothing, I will most likely give it a shot. I come off looking pretty good in like situations so my chances are probably higher than average.
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Yeah I'd say you have a high chance of getting both the ticket and points reduced. Good luck with that.
"I had a lab/tutorial at 8:00 AM and needed to get there early to ask the TA some questions I didn't understand" - That excuse has worked for me before
I've also used "I have to go back home as fast as possible to get my Student ID or they won't let me take my midterm/final exam" (only during exam week of course).
Or even "I'm late for meeting up with my parents because they are moving tomorrow and tonight is our big family dinner", this one worked like a charm because I was actually all dressed up but it was because I was hanging out with 2 of my friends (who were also dressed up and in the backseat) and the cop actually just told me to slow down and that I wouldn't want to get hurt by speeding if it's the last time my parents would see me for a while. He didn't even give me a speeding ticket lol
It's a good thing if you know how to lie on the spot and come up with excuses that work for pretty much any situation lol
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On February 10 2010 23:23 kOre wrote:Yeah I'd say you have a high chance of getting both the ticket and points reduced. Good luck with that. "I had a lab/tutorial at 8:00 AM and needed to get there early to ask the TA some questions I didn't understand" - That excuse has worked for me before I've also used "I have to go back home as fast as possible to get my Student ID or they won't let me take my midterm/final exam" (only during exam week of course). Or even "I'm late for meeting up with my parents because they are moving tomorrow and tonight is our big family dinner", this one worked like a charm because I was actually all dressed up but it was because I was hanging out with 2 of my friends (who were also dressed up and in the backseat) and the cop actually just told me to slow down and that I wouldn't want to get hurt by speeding if it's the last time my parents would see me for a while. He didn't even give me a speeding ticket lol It's a good thing if you know how to lie on the spot and come up with excuses that work for pretty much any situation lol
Yeah, I have never been pulled over and I wasn't really thinking, so I pretty much admitted to speeding right away. I thought if I was just really nice I would get off with a warning, and the guy was just casually talking to me about school, so I thought I was doing a good job, but still received the ticket.
I am relieved to here you just talk to one guy. The way the official Ontario law website describes the process, it makes it seem like it's a court room.
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the ticket probably wont be reflected on your insurance until renewal, in the us, going 70kph in a 50hph is hardly speeding, its only ~10mph over lol..I wouldnt speed in your area, sounds strict
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On February 10 2010 23:34 2on2 wrote:
the ticket probably wont be reflected on your insurance until renewal, in the us, going 70kph in a 50hph is hardly speeding, its only ~10mph over lol..I wouldnt speed in your area, sounds strict
You can go about 10 - 15 km/h over here it seems and you'll be fine, but 20 km/h or higher and you're going to be pulled over. I won't be speeding (no more 20 over, only 10) from now on, because I can't afford to have my license suspended for thirty days, that would be a nightmare.
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Korea (South)11568 Posts
I got pulled over for going 31 mph (50 kph) over the speed limit. and had to pay a $450 speeding ticket, a $100 driver improvement class, and i have to retake the test to get your license within the next 10 days (and pass of course) or my license will be suspended.
lol, don't worry. shit could be worse!
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United States41641 Posts
On February 10 2010 22:40 Salv wrote:
However it's the mid of winter, I couldn't too clearly out of the windshield
Perhaps there's a lesson in this. If your visibility is so poor you can't see policemen then it might be time to decrease your stopping distance by not speeding.
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I really doubt making up a better excuse will do anything to reduce the ticket now. If your ticket got reduced to $96 that's pretty lucky, tickets are fucking expensive. Is there anyway you can take a defensive driving class to get the ticket removed from your record? That's how it works in the US.
Also, if you plan to continue speeding virtually every time you drive, I'd suggest going out and buying some kind of radar detector, they're kind of expensive, but so is a ticket.
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On February 10 2010 23:48 CaucasianAsian wrote:
I got pulled over for going 31 mph (50 kph) over the speed limit. and had to pay a $450 speeding ticket, a $100 driver improvement class, and i have to retake the test to get your license within the next 10 days (and pass of course) or my license will be suspended.
lol, don't worry. shit could be worse!
Haha, I am twenty, so I am independent now and don't rely on my folks too much, but if I admitted to them I was caught driving 50 km/h over the limit, I wouldn't be driving any longer. Not because I would have a suspended license, but my folks would probably gang-beat me haha. My grandfather is an old school Italian, he would probably bust out the big spoon to lay a beating on me too.
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Thirty minutes from school equals big problem ?
You sure you don't live in Texas ? That's what I walk to school every day (when I got class, not very often I admit, but still).
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On February 10 2010 23:49 KwarK wrote:Show nested quote +On February 10 2010 22:40 Salv wrote:
However it's the mid of winter, I couldn't too clearly out of the windshield Perhaps there's a lesson in this. If your visibility is so poor you can't see policemen then it might be time to decrease your stopping distance by not speeding.
Wait, what? It's not like I couldn't see the road, or see other cars, I simply couldn't see from far away if a specific car was a police officer or not. If you mean I should slow down my speed because I cannot spot police officers like I normally do, then perhaps you are right, but a better idea would just be to drive only 10 km/h over and just leave my house a bit earlier.
On February 10 2010 23:50 sixghost wrote:
I really doubt making up a better excuse will do anything to reduce the ticket now. If your ticket got reduced to $96 that's pretty lucky, tickets are fucking expensive. Is there anyway you can take a defensive driving class to get the ticket removed from your record? That's how it works in the US.
Also, if you plan to continue speeding virtually every time you drive, I'd suggest going out and buying some kind of radar detector, they're kind of expensive, but so is a ticket.
I don't want to give the impression that I am some sort of speed demon haha, I drive defensively and I had taken private driving lessons to ensure you have the best possible chance to avoid an accident. I don't drive fast when there are others near me driving slowly, I simply follow the speed of other drivers, on this occasion however I just happened to be the only driver heading North and it was on a straight stretch of road so my speed was high.
The actual ticket doesn't actually say that you can come in and give an excuse, it actually states that you are pleading guilty, but you can come and suggest a penalty other than the demerit points & fine. The law doesn't allow an officer to raise the fine after the fact, so I don't run the risk of paying even more if my argument doesn't pan out, I would simply be at the same point as I would if I just pleaded guilty.
My plan is to go in and suggest a fine with no demerit points added, or simply a warning. I'm not going to speed any more than 10 km/h from now on, so all I have to do is come off as sincere and let the justice of the peace know that I am serious.
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Honestly, you got off easy. You should be happy with that and man up and accept the punishment that was dealt out. Your dad's insurance isn't going up and to be honest if you know you have 3 points on your license maybe it will make you a better driver because you'll be less inclined to speed.
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On February 11 2010 00:24 Pioneer wrote:
Honestly, you got off easy. You should be happy with that and man up and accept the punishment that was dealt out. Your dad's insurance isn't going up and to be honest if you know you have 3 points on your license maybe it will make you a better driver because you'll be less inclined to speed.
Did you read my original post? I only asked what the consequences would be. It's not until Kore said that you can get your demerit points / fine reduced even further. To be completely clear the ticket says:
"Option 1: Plea of Guilty - Voluntary Payment of Total Payable: I plead guilty and payment of the total payable is enclosed.
Option 2: (The one I plan to choose) Plea of Guilty - Submissions as to Penalty: I want to appear before a justice to enter a plea of guilty and make submissions as to penalty (amount of fine or time to pay)."
The last option is where you plead innocent and prevent evidence etc. However the ticket clearly says you are free to submit your own suggestions for punishment. If I know that I won't be driving at this speed again, I will suggest a warning or demerit point reduction. Lastly, I agree with you that being pulled over will make me a safer driver, I won't be driving 20 km/h over again, now to convince the justice of the peace of that.
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On February 10 2010 23:50 sixghost wrote:Also, if you plan to continue speeding virtually every time you drive, I'd suggest going out and buying some kind of radar detector, they're kind of expensive, but so is a ticket.
Never heard of a radar detector and I can't fathom how that would work technologically. Could you give me some more information out of curiosity?
On February 10 2010 23:49 KwarK wrote:Show nested quote +On February 10 2010 22:40 Salv wrote:
However it's the mid of winter, I couldn't too clearly out of the windshield Perhaps there's a lesson in this. If your visibility is so poor you can't see policemen then it might be time to decrease your stopping distance by not speeding.
Yeah. You should probably realize that:
1. You should clean your windshield before you start driving. Also, change your air flow settings so it doesn't fog up.
2. You can't possibly leave enough space for the necessary stopping distance if you're going 70-80 km/h in a 50km/h zone. Either you're catching up to other drivers because they're going slower than you or other drivers are going to cut into the large space you need to leave. The stopping distance can be at least two times are far because of ice.
I'm not saying it's impossible to speed in icy conditions but you will most likely hit ice one time and get into a bad accident. This is assuming the road conditions in Ontario are similar to Manitoba.
Edit: Well, the second part is kind of useless after your last post saying you won't go 20km/h over again. You should realize that it's for a sensible reason though and not just because of tickets.
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Speeding tickets are pretty terrible in New York. I got pulled over for speeding but he reduced it to basically a parking ticket. The ticket fine was $20 but in New York there is a $80 surcharge just for getting pulled over!
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