Cities make huge revenue from traffic tickets. They offer pre-payment as an option, which lots of people take to keep away from the work of going to court. As a result, the city makes extra funds for those offenses that are uncontested.

When a citizen receives a speeding ticket, the officer is usually prepared to write it before the person has even pulled over to the side of the road. By engaging the services of a traffic tickets paralegal, the citizen may be able to show they were not breaking the law, or not as severely as the officer claims. The paralegal may be able to point out the inaccuracy of the allegations or the unfair nature of the speed trap. There may be insufficient signage indicating the correct speed limit. Those with calibration issues & defective equipment also have a case.

Although a police officer may think about a traffic ticket a non-serious offense, the infraction stays on a motorist's record for several years. It costs them funds for the court costs, fines for the traffic tickets & time spent fighting it. The assumption is that the driver won't contest it & basically pay the fine for the ticket.

When contesting a ticket in traffic court, the motorists with paralegals usually have their cases heard first. The traffic paralegal speaks the same language as the judge & can present proof that most people representing themselves may seldom think of introducing. Defendants who do not understand the system are often left making decisions about whether to plead guilty or not guilty without knowing what it means.

Some may well not recognize the seriousness of the offense & not pre-pay the ticket & not show up for court. This often leads to being tried in their absence & the judge ordering a warrant for their failure to appear. With a traffic tickets specialist representing the individual, this does not happen.

For more information about Ontario traffic tickets, speeding ticket or accidents get advice at Traffic Law Paralegal Services who is ready to help keeping your record clean.

http://www.trafficlawparalegal.com/tickets.aspx
http://www.trafficlawparalegal.com/no_insurance.aspx

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Traffic ticket defence professionals can provide valuable service to the defendants by assisting in resolution of the allegations and in many situations avoiding imposition of demerit points by the Ministry. Even if points are not assessed, there could still be serious consequences of a conviction. A conviction record will be placed on the driver's abstract and will remain there forever. Most insurance companies will only be concerned with last 3 years. A person with 2-3 minor offences on their record may face a significant increase in their premiums regardless of demerit points.

How long does demerit points stay on record

If you were unfortunate enough to accumulate demerit points there is a good news. Points extend for 2 years from the date of the offence but applied against the driver's licence only at the time of conviction. In theory, if it took 2 years for the matter to be completed then there will be no demerits assessed against the licence. It is obvious, it pays to fight traffic tickets from this perspective.

Effect of points on licence status

At 15 or more points, your licence will be suspended for 30 days from the date you surrender it to the Ministry of Transportation for the first suspension. You can lose your licence for up to two years if you fail to surrender your licence. If 15 points reached again a period of suspension increases to 60 days and 90 days on subsequent accumulation. Fighting a traffic ticket and preventing an accumulation of points may be the difference between driving and not. Suspension on the record will certainly increase an insurance premiums dramatically.

Effect on novice licence holders

Novice drivers (G1, G2, M1 and M2 classes) are subject to even more drastic consequences. Upon reaching 2 demerit points a warning letter will be sent out. At 6 points an interview will be scheduled to determine if driver's licence should be suspended. At 9 points novice licence will be suspended for 90 days from the date you surrender it to the Ministry of Transportation. As of December 2010 novice drivers are also subject to an automatic suspension of their licence if 4 or more points has been accumulated in a single transaction. For example, careless driving conviction will result in automatic suspension.

http://www.trafficlawparalegal.com/demerit_points.aspx

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Ever since toronto introduced the new DUI laws, its become a mystery how much one can drink, how long before you drive. The rule of thumb is dont drink at all!

Before the new laws where introduced one had a "warn" that would be a buffer between being a criminal, and a normal driver on the road.

It doesnt suprise me that the internet took matter into their own hands with #ride. Dont get me wrong, im not condoning #ride, or praising it, but i have to be honest, im always terrified coming up to a ride stop if i had a beer 6 hours before hand!

"Spot checks, one of the key things about it is that it's random and you don't know where they are," --Const. Scott Mills

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As more states ban the practice – Massachusetts will become the 31st to do so on Thursday – new research from the insurance industry claims that the prohibition of texting while driving does not reduce auto crashes … and may actually increase them.

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Starting August 1:

All drivers 21 years of age and younger must have a zero blood alcohol level when they get behind the wheel or face:
An immediate 24-hour licence suspension
30-day licence suspension
Up to $500 in fines
Drivers in the Graduated Licensing System will face tougher penalties if they violate the conditions of their licence or if they are convicted of any Highway Traffic Act offences that carry four or more demerit points. Penalties include:
30-day licence suspension for the first instance
90-day licence suspension for a second instance
Further instances can lead to a cancellation of the licence and other penalties.
Also, effective August 3, eligible drivers convicted of an impaired driving offence for the first time, will be able to reduce their licence suspension if they agree to have an ignition interlock device installed in their vehicle, at their own cost. This will help impaired drivers change their behaviour to prevent them from becoming repeat offenders.

These changes are part of the Road Safety Act 2009 and 2007's Safer Roads for a Safer Ontario Act and will help keep drivers safe on Ontario roads.

QUICK FACTS

The peak ages of drinking and driving collisions are 19, 20 and 21.
In Ontario, 235 drivers age 21 and under were killed in drinking and driving collisions in the latest 10-year period for which statistics are available.
Crashes involving drivers suspended for a drinking and driving conviction are 3.4 times more likely to be fatal.
LEARN MORE

Making Ontario's Roads Safer
Here's What Ontario's Road Safety Partners Are Saying
The Road Safety Act, 2009
The Safer Roads for a Safer Ontario Act, 2007
Learn more about Ontario's drinking and driving laws

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At Webopedia.com, “Cloud Computing” is defined as a “type of computing that is comparable to grid computing, relies on sharing computing resources rather than having local servers or personal devices to handle applications. The goal of cloud computing is to apply traditional supercomputing power (normally used by military and research facilities) to perform tens of trillions of computations per second.”
Cloud Computing: What's next?

What is Cloud Computing?

In other words, cloud computing makes it possible for your data and software platforms and services to be stored offsite, in the “cloud”.

Online services of this type, which include software as a system (SaaS) and platforms as a system (PaaS), are becoming increasingly common and, for many lawyers, are an attractive alternative to the traditional law practice management software installed and maintained on a local server within a law office.

Online services available to attorneys now include law practice management systems, document management and storage platforms, secure document and information exchange services, secure email networks, digital dictation services and billing/timekeeping services. The online platforms are attractive, economical and viable alternatives for firms of all sizes.

Advantages include lower costs due to reduced overhead, less hassle related to maintaining the and upgrading the case management system and greater flexibility, since the Web-based system can be accessed anywhere, at anytime.

Taking advantage of cloud computing services allows firms to focus on the ever-important task of practicing law while the cloud computing provider operates, updates and maintains the practice management software.

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Everyone is allowed to take notes in court.

Period.

But the other day a Toronto justice of the peace decided to make up his own rules. He banned "note-taking" in his Etobicoke courtroom where bail hearings were being held for G20 protesters.

It was the latest -- and most ridiculous -- in a series of bizarre steps taken by court officials to build a big fat wall around the whole judicial process for accused demonstrators.

So much for an open and transparent court system. So much for accountability.

On Tuesday I went to the Etobicoke courthouse for the bail hearing of Peter Hopperton, a Hamilton guy facing charges related to the summit. He is accused of being a leader of the Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance, planning violent and destructive activities during the protests. He was arrested for conspiring to commit mischief and conspiring to assault and obstruct police.

Before going, I knew it was not going to be a routine day at court.

Toronto journalists who had already been covering some of the protesters' court appearances had reported on the far-from-normal proceedings. For instance, at one hearing, the media and public were banned from the courtroom. They were, however, allowed to sit in a room right next door and watch the bail hearing unfold on a fuzzy closed-circuit TV screen.

It is as though the judiciary is trying to discourage people from watching justice happen.

In Etobicoke, I was puzzled by the tiny courtroom chosen for Hopperton's hearing. An hour before it was to begin there was already a considerable crowd of family, supporters and media waiting in the hall. Too many to squeeze into the small room.

The same thing happened five years ago for the so-called Toronto 18 homegrown terrorist case. Nearly 200 journalists descended upon the Brampton courthouse, only to find the room set aside wouldn't even hold all the lawyers. Court administrators quickly moved the case to the largest courtroom in the building, but even then only a quarter of us -- I was one of the lucky ones -- made it in.

In Etobicoke, though, no provisions were made. We were forced to sit nearly on one another's laps. A few supporters standing at the back of the court were told they needed to find a seat or leave.

Once things got under way, the media was reminded of the publication ban put in place earlier. It is Section 517 of the Criminal Code of Canada and is fairly standard for bail hearings, although not automatic. What it says, essentially, is that you can't publish, broadcast or otherwise disseminate evidence heard at the bail hearing.

The reasoning behind that publication ban, according to top media lawyer Brian Rogers, is to "protect the future jury trial of the accused from prejudice."

What that means to the media is that we still take notes on everything. But we only publish the parts not covered by the ban: the outcome of the hearing, the bail conditions, the description of the courtroom and the people in it. Later, after the charges have been dealt with through a trial or a plea, the media can go back to their notes from the bail hearing and publish them, because the ban no longer applies.

So, as per usual, I took notes at Hopperton's hearing. (It is against the law to take visual or audio recordings in a courthouse.) So did the other journalists. But after the morning break, we came back into court to have the clerk announce that Mark Conacher, appointed a JP in 2003, was ordering that no note-taking would be allowed in the courtroom.

I exchanged a bewildered look with Peter Small, court reporter from the Toronto Star.

Huh?

When the JP returned to court, Peter was on his feet in a heartbeat asking about taking notes.

"The ban doesn't apply to the media," Conacher answered before resuming the hearing.

Whew. I could still take notes.

But what about Hopperton's friends? And family? And the guy sitting near me who occasionally writes for an alternative newspaper?

Huh?

Conacher offered no explanation. Cited no law.

Because there is no good explanation. And there is no law. The publication ban doesn't prevent taking notes. It only limits what you can do with them afterward.

"Publication means showing it to somebody else," says Rogers. He has never heard of a JP or judge banning note-taking.

"There's nothing in the section (of the Criminal Code) he's relying on to impose that order. This is something the JP has come up with on his own."

Court security took Conacher's no-note-taking decree to heart. I was asked if I was "with the media" several times that day by officers who eyed my notebook as if it was contraband.

I have since left a message with Conacher's office hoping to interview him about the note-taking. He has not returned my call.

The whole thing is enough to leave one questioning the logic and order of things. Even those of us who aren't anarchists.

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The drive by heist of revenue from lead foots, red light runners and illegal turners on roads in this province - actually $1,048,607,020.80 and counting – appeared to catch the cash-strapped Liberal government off guard.

“It’s a heck of a lot of money,” said Attorney General Chris Bentley, whose government is $19.7 billion in the hole and looking for ways to climb out from under the historic debt load. “Any amount of money that is owed by somebody is money we obviously want to collect for revenue reasons and for good enforcement reasons.”

Surprisingly, there is simply no mechanism to make people pay their speeding fines – especially those living out of the province, said Alok Mukherjee, president of the board, which governs local police departments. You can’t get arrested for getting a slew of speeding tickets, he added.

“You lose points … you can have your license suspended but you get it back,” he said. “Unless the consequences create a deterrent there is no incentive for people to pay because the consequences are pretty limited right now.”

The problem of unpaid fines was brought to the attention of the attorney general and Minister of Community Safety Rick Bartolucci by the police services boards at Queen’s Park on Monday.

There is no effective measure to get people to pay other than using a collection agency, said Henry Jensen of the Ottawa Police Services Board.

“If there is a lack of teeth in a statute to enforce collection, people are not going to pay,” he said.

That is not the case with unpaid parking tickets in Toronto. If motorists don’t pay those they can’t register their vehicle annually. The same holds true for those who do not pay outstanding Highway 407 road toll charges.

“We have a mechanism to deal with people who don’t pay for the 407 – they don’t get their plates,” said Mukherjee who is also chair of the Toronto Police Services Board. “So why should it be otherwise in terms of municipal bylaws and the provincial offences act and so on?”

Many who owe are vacationers from out of province or the United States who ignore the tickets when they leave, he added.

“You could get a speeding ticket in one part of the 401, you ignore it and keep driving,” he said. “You get a second one and ignore it, you could get three tickets, keep driving and throw them out and leave the province. How is anyone to collect it?”

Some U.S. troopers have the ability to charge foreign motorists and demand payment on the spot. That could be a method of collection used here.

The total value of uncollected fines is continuing to rise to unacceptable levels and lax laws undermine traffic enforcement and highway safety, board members say. Not to mention municipalities are without a lot of money, which translates into higher taxes.

“Who is losing out?” asked Jensen. “The taxpayer - you.”

The attorney general says the government has given the municipalities a number of tools to deal with unpaid tickets, said Mukherjee. But the government has also asked the association to further study the issue, try and find solutions and report back.

Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne was surprised by the $1 billion amount. “It is unacceptable, obviously,” she said.

Wynne admits she is figuring out a better way for the province to get their hands on the dough. “I’ll be working with my colleague ministers to determine if there is anything else we should be doing,” she said.

NDP MPP Peter Kormos (Welland) called the figure “remarkable.”

“It is shocking licences aren’t being suspended for unpaid fines,” he said.

Out of province offenders need to be dealt with by way of reciprocal agreements with other jurisdictions, he said.

But Progressive Conservative MPP Bill Murdoch (Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound) wonders “who is going to shoot all the bad dogs?”

While he is not supportive of speeding, he said the province is awash with laws – over 500,000 laws and regulations – and there is simply a lack of people around to enforce them all.

“Who will you hire to do it?” he asked. “There should be some laws, there is no doubt about that, but we’ve become a province of too many of them.”

A red-tape commission is needed to clean up all the unnecessary laws before other issues are dealt with, he said.

Delegates from the police boards also spoke to MPPs and opposition parties to discuss other public safety issues such as the need to update the Police Services Act, court security, police governance and training and the illegal use of prescription narcotics.

Drivers owe Ontario municipalities more than $1 billion in outstanding traffic tickets.

The Ontario Association of Police Service Boards is asking the provincial government for help to collect unpaid traffic tickets, which it complains have grown to exceed $1 billion.

Attorney General Chris Bentley says the government introduced changes last fall that gave municipalities more power to collect fines for speeding and other traffic offences.

He calls the unpaid fines “a heck of a lot of money,” and says the outstanding sum must be collected, both for the revenue and to show traffic laws are being enforced.

Bentley says the province is willing to listen if the police boards think they need more powers to go after speeding motorists from the United States who simply ignore tickets they get in Ontario.

Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne calls the $1 billion in unpaid fines “unacceptable.”

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