The First Hurdle

My car accident was over four months ago.

That night, in my nervous and shocked state I had asked the officer whether I would be charged. Since I blew under, and the accident didn't involve anyone else, he had told me that likely no charges would be laid. I'm not sure what changed but by the end of the night, he had to reluctantly charge me with a "Careless Driving" offense. It's one of the harshest non-criminal traffic charges around which equates 6 demerit points. It could have been worse; a whole lot worse.

Anyhow, most people will advise you to fight any/all traffic tickets if you can. Even though the fine was $350, I knew that having that on my record would be more detrimental. I had a clean driving record prior to this. I contracted the services of Ontario Traffic Tickets, one of those companies who fight traffic tickets and criminal offenses by employing retired cops and technicians as agents. They guarantee that you get your charge withdrawn or reduced or else your money back. I figured it was worth the $400 service fee.

My trial was scheduled for today at 3:00pm. I was planning to do this thing on my own, but my folks insisted on driving me and being my support. Anyhow, even though we left with plenty of time, my parents managed to get confused with the straight-ahead MapQuest directions and miss the highway turnoff. We got stuck in the express lanes in heavy traffic and were delayed an extra 20 minutes. I was flipping out, and since I couldn't do much about the situation, I just chanted to myself: "Stay calm. There's nothing you can do." Remind me the next time to do the navigating.

I got to the court building entrance at exactly 3pm. I ran (more like painfully hobbled) up the stairs with my gimpy knee, got quickly scanned by the metal detector staff and rushed into my assigned courtroom. My legal representative from OTT was there and quickly brought me up to speed.

He told me that he had consulted with the prosecution and she didn't have information about my case. He also found out that the OPP officer wasn't present so that boded well. In the chance that the cop did show up, my representative wanted my permission to negotiate the charge down to a "failure to stay in lane" for a mere two demerit points. I found that amusing because it was true. I didn't stay in my lane. In fact, I didn't stay in any lane; I hit the guard rail!

Court was called into session a few moments after that. They called me to the front with my representative and I had to state my name aloud. The prosecutor then stated that since the Crown didn't have proper information about the case and no witnesses or the on-site officer wasn't in attendance, she wished to withdraw the charge. The judge concurred. And that was it.

I'm in the clear! Yah!

I was so surprised that it only took 2 minutes. I am also very lucky. So now, I can start attempting to get insured again. Once I manage to get quotes, I can then figure out if I can even afford car insurance, but at least my record is clean once more.

Now on to my case against the insurance company for my friggin' vehicle claim. Those bastards! I won this battle, but the war still rages.