Tags: ontario
10/09/08
OPP launch holiday blitz
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Mister-Wong
MixxOPP will be keeping an extra close eye on seat belts. Their annual fall seat belt initiative kicks off today through to the 12th. Officers will be looking to ensure drivers and passengers are buckled up and following the rules of the road.
10/06/08
Time's up on `street racing' law
Link: http://www.wheels.ca/articlecategory/article/395019
Jim Kenzie
Special to the Star
Oct 04, 2008
Anniversaries are often a time for taking stock. They are usually happy occasions. Candles are lit. Cakes are baked. Presents are handed out.
On such occasions, one can be forgiven for perhaps taking too rosy a view of the past.
Perhaps that's what's behind the shiny, happy faces of those celebrating the first anniversary of Section 172 of the Ontario Highway Traffic Act, which gives the police the power to seize vehicles going 50 km/h over the speed limit. This law, passed one year ago last Tuesday, also allows police to impose fines of up to $10,000 before the accused even gets a day in court.
They are still averaging 23 scofflaws a day. Now that is down from 40 a day when the crackdown began, but we don't know how many cops they have on patrol now versus then.
Regardless, with the amount of publicity this has received, you'd have thought that if the law had any deterrent effect whatsoever, nobody would dare take a chance.
Not so's you'd notice.
10/01/08
PARALEGALS SEEK A WIDER ROLE IN JUSTICE SYSTEM
Written by Barbara Adamson
Paralegals seek a wider role in justice system
Legal services providers are critical of new rules barring them from work in certain areas of law
Peter Small
Courts Bureau
Tommy Taylor found himself in deep trouble on July 1 when he was charged, for a second time, with driving while under suspension.
When a police officer first charged him in January, he was left with the incorrect impression that paying off an outstanding $465 speeding ticket and $150 to reinstate his licence would clear everything up. He didn't know he had a court date June 25, which he missed, sparking another automatic suspension.
On Canada Day, when another officer stopped him for speeding, Taylor was charged once again.
In both cases, notices that his driver's licence was suspended arrived in the mail after he was charged, he says.
Now the 27-year-old non-profit fundraiser is facing a potential $5,000 fine and jail.
"If you don't know the system, you're screwed," he says.
He decided he couldn't clean up the mess on his own, so he turned to a paralegal firm.
It'll end up costing Taylor at least $1,300 as he appeals his convictions, money he considers well spent.
07/15/08
Amendments to Ontario’s Impaired Driving Laws
Link: http://blog.legalaction.ca/amendments-to-ontario%e2%80%99s-impaired-driving-laws/#more-99
Industry News Elena Mindel
As of July 2, Ontario’s controversial amendments to its impaired driving laws went into effect. These amendments give more power to police officers administering road and bodily fluid tests, as well as circumventing some legal loopholes that charged drivers often use to beat convictions.
From the National Post:
The amendments will make it easier for police to obtain blood samples after serious automobile accidents in which alcohol is believed to be a factor and reduce the opportunities for defendants to use “evidence to the contrary” arguments to try to avoid a conviction.
“The legislation will make it more difficult for those who drink, drive and kill to escape liability,” said Robert Solomon, a law professor at the University of Western Ontario in London.
The ‘evidence to the contrary’ arguments are used by defense lawyers to contest seemingly objective findings of blood tests, breathalyzers, etc. A frequently used example is the ‘last drink’ defense where lawyers argue that the accused was over the .08 limit because they ‘chugged’ their last drink, giving it less time to absorb in their body before hitting the road.
Other arguments could also state that drivers were stopped for improper purpose, a violation for their Charter rights.
Advocates against impaired driving have widely criticized defense lawyers of using these arguments inappropriately and in many cases judges have accepted them. It now looks as if these critics are seeing the changes they want.
With the new amendments, an ‘evidence to the contrary’ argument can only go so far as to cite malfunctions in the police breathalyzer tests and must provide clear evidence that the driver was not over the limit.
The new legislation has not come without controversy, as many legal experts have challenged the changes.
This restriction was questioned by the Canadian Bar Association in a presentation to Parliament last summer. “It would be particularly difficult for an accused to raise a reasonable doubt based on instrument malfunction, given that the instrument is in the custody of the authorities,” said the legal organization. It called for a “mandatory protocol” to ensure the reliability of testing devices.
Whether the protocols can successfully ensure reliable testing is still up in the air. It is likely that these amendments will face constitutional challenges in the courts and may create greater backlog in Ontario’s justice system. At this point, it looks like defense lawyers will have to make more assured arguments if they want to ward off convictions in the future.
12/08/07
Near Drunk Driving Dilemma
Near Drunk Driving Dilemma
New changes to Drinking And Driving Laws?. Live at 5:30 CHCH News report on the 72 hour suspension
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