Went to court this morning.
I talked to the prosecutor and she looked at the summons and looked at my driver's licence renewal which was renewed immediately the next day.
She nodded her head and said she would reduce the fine.
The prosecutor actually asked for my birth date and asked how quickly I renewed my licence after being given the ticket.
I definitely believe that my quick action helped her determine that my expired licence was unintentional.
When I came up before his 'worship', the prosecutor advised the court that she was requesting the charge be 'withdrawn' and I was relieved. Haha
Things I noticed in court:
- Almost 80% of the charges were for speeding. Most speeding tickets were about 22 to 23 km/per hour over the speed limit. The prosecutor would reduce it down to 15 km/hr and the fine was usually $60 dollars and no demerit points.
- Justice of the Peace (JP) reduced most of the $60 speeding tickets to $45 dollars and people were given either the minimum of 14 days to a maximum of 120 days to pay (for financial hardship).
- If you did not speak english and required an interpreter that was not readily available, for a $60 speeding ticket the prosecutor withdrew the charge.
- 90% of the speeders were immigrants. Damn them for breaking the law!
In summary, my simple administrative forgetfulness was not viewed by the court as an act of civil disobedience.
I was polite and respectful throughout the 1-minute process for the prosecutor to call me out and withdrew the charge.
Thanks for everyone for their support and I'm sorry to disappoint the hardliners for not immediately anteing up the $325 dollars to the City of Toronto and TPS's slush fund!!
In traffic court they know when it's right to levy a reasonable fine and what's considered an unnecessary tax grab!
The Finisher