If you have one of the Ontario green traffic tickets (Form 4 in small print at the top), this will be listed on the back of it as Option 2:
Choosing this option on the back of your traffic ticket means that you will be given an opportunity to speak with someone from the prosecutor’s office in the jurisdiction where you got your ticket. He or she may likely try and persuade you to plead guilty to the offence, or some other lesser offence.
Why?
In a courtroom full of drivers defending their traffic tickets, it would be impossible to run a trial for each one of them. If everybody wanted a trial, the Court would not be able to handle the case load and it would clog the system. Avoiding a trial allows the prosecution to manage their in-court case load much more effectively. Also, by enticing you to plead guilty to a lesser offence the prosecutor avoids the burden of proving the original charge against you. So, having you plead guilty to a lesser charge benefits the prosecution.
But does it benefit you?
As first glance, an offer to reduce the speed on your charge, or to change the offence to a lesser offence that carries less demerit points may seem like a good deal. Less demerit points is a good thing right?
But wait.
Your auto insurance company does not care whether your charge has been reduced. Your auto insurance rate will increase at your next renewal date based on your convictions, not on how many demerit points you have.Your auto insurance company classifies traffic ticket offences into major and minor offences. A minor offence will raise your insurance rate, regardless of whether you incurred any demerit points in the infraction. A major offence will have a significant effect on your insurance rate. Major offences include Careless Driving, Failing to Report an Accident, Improper Passing of a School Bus, Speeding at a very high rate (40 to 50 km/hr over the speed limit), Driving without Insurance, and other serious offences.
If early resolutions with the Prosecutor results in lowering a charge from a major offence to a minor offence, then the deal may be worth it. Otherwise, there is little benefit to these early resolutions. You may save a demerit point (which, if you haven’t accumulated any, will be a moot point), or you save a hundred or so bucks (which is a drop in the bucket to the amount your insurance rate will be over the next three years because of the conviction).
Here are other reasons to shy away from early resolutions with the prosecutor:
- You have to take an extra day off work before the actual day of the trial to meet with the prosecutor (in those jurisdictions that use the green traffic tickets in Ontario);
- Your case may be winnable for various reasons and the prosecutor will not tell you that;
- You may not have had the opportunity to peruse the disclosure of the evidence the prosecutor has to try and convict you;
- The prosecutor may offer you a better deal the day of the scheduled trial;
- Once you take the deal, you are now guilty and a conviction will be registered against you
- You waive all right to a trial in the matter, even if you may have a Charter issue; and
- Whatever the deal you are offered, it is still up to the Court to accept it (the J.P. may not).
So, it is wise to have someone in the field of expertise in fighting traffic tickets to evaluate your options before you accept any plea deal from the prosecutor.
By Joel LaCoursiere
