Well, lemme tell a true story from the jurisdiction in question (Toronto). Two or three years ago we were driving along in my '89 D100, coming up to a traffic light at the entrance to a large supermarket. The light went yellow, so I pulled up to the stop line and stopped. Ahead of us and to the left was a Chev Cavalier with its left turn signal on, properly positioned past the stop line to complete a left turn once the intersection cleared. The light turned red, the intersection cleared, the Cavalier started forward-leftward. The driver of an oncoming Ford Taurus taxicab flew up to the line of stopped traffic, steered into his right lane, gunned it and flew into the intersection. He crammed on his brakes once he was already well into the intersection, but nevertheless punched the Cavalier
hard in the right front, spinning it 270°. End of bumper, lights, hood, radiator, and fan for the Taurus. End of the road for the Cavalier, whose occupants were badly shaken and slightly bloody but overall okeh. The light goes green; I pull across the intersection and park, then we walk back to see how I can help.
The cab driver, who is named Awil Hirsi and is obviously from someplace where they barely have roads, let alone traffic laws, gets out of his car and the very first thing he does is start getting up in the faces of everyone around, vowing to kill them if they tell the cops anything. A couple of witnesses drive off. He didn't try to get in our faces, guess he didn't want to mess with a couple of big-bearded dudes who look like we might be bikers (or rock stars
). Cops and ambulance arrive, we give our report.
By and by, the court date comes. I show up, the Cavalier driver and her husband show up, the cop shows up
everyone shows up except the cab driver, who has sent word that he's ill and can't make the court date. Yeah, right. :roll: So the hearing is rescheduled. Next court date comes up
guess what, cab driver doesn't show. Sick again. Amazing. Third time's a charm, cab driver shows up. He gets on the stand and the judge asks him what colour the light was when he entered the intersection. He says "red. I mean yellow." The judge says "Listen to me very carefully: if it was red, then you will be guilty of failure to stop at a red light. If it was yellow, then it's just careless driving. What color was it?" The cab driver says "It was yellow." The judge says "OK, yellow then we're knocking this down to careless driving. Pay on your way out." TOTAL BS, the guy destroyed somebody else's car and caused blood by zooming into an intersection with a red light, faked "sickness" to get out of court
twice, and all he gets is a "careless driving" slap on the wrist.
And me, I turned right onto a particular street during a prohibited time, and the cops were waiting for people to do exactly that, so I got a "failure to obey posted sign" ticket
cop said "Be sure and take this to court", so I did; he didn't show, so the ticket was dismissed.
It sounds like you pretty much have a grasp of things. Do not try to make excuses in court; they won't work. Tell the truth: this is the first time you've ever had a ticket, the road was brand new and quieter than the roads you normally drive on, and your attention temporarily strayed from the speedometer. That is your best shot at lenience.
As for insurance: there's nothing to be done about it. The insurance cartel in this province is criminal. We
almost got public auto insurance in ON a few years ago like they have in BC, and it would've saved us a whack of money, but nooooooo, because the insurance companies launched a massive, high-dollar, successful propaganda campaign against it, even as they were pretending to be cash-starved and poverty-stricken. :roll:
