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Bad Driver Walks. Good Drivers Pay!

I spent the morning in Traffic Court today, the Whole morning due to the fact that the person I issued a ticket to over a year and a half ago didn't show up to deal with his case. At first I wasn't happy with this, because the ticket was a minor one for not having a front licence plate attached to his front bumper.

As it turns out though I'm glad he didn't show up because it allowed me to witness first hand once again the unfairness of what has become of our traffic court system.

For those who have never been to Traffic court, here's how it works. When you show up, the first thing you do is check in with the Crown Attorney. You are asked how you wish to plea and you choose from either;

-Guilty.

-Not Guilty

- or Guilty with an Explanation.

Once the proceedings start, the Crown first deals with administrative matters, advising the Judge of any cases that are being adjourned to another date, stays of proceedings and the like.

Then any cases that are being dealt with by legal counsel go first. Then the guilty with an explanations and finally after that any Not Guilty pleas are dealt with by way of trials.

What happened this morning turned my stomach to watch and the sad thing is that, what happened, has become a common occurrence and is completely unjust.

One of the first trials was a Hit and Run offence. The Accused, (Bad Driver) who was there with his Mother, walked away smiling with a stay of proceedings and no punishment because the witness who saw the collision did not attend court. The Traffic Officer who laid the charge was incensed. Apparently the Accused and his Mother had not been the most pleasant people to deal with at the time. Even though there was a witness, when confronted with the facts during the investigation, he denied involvement and as such his Mother was also charged as the Registered Owner.

Well since the witness was a no show, the case was stayed and they walked. This unfortunately happens frequently because it can be a huge inconvenience for witnesses who often end up having to take time off work to come to court. So as a result, a conviction that should have resulted in several hundreds of dollars in fines and 12 Demerit Points was left unpunished.

However the courts made up for this by making sure that the remaining individuals paid dearly for their crimes! Entering a construction zone without reducing their speed when 'passing workers' who were working several lanes away from the lanes of travel.

Warning! The rest of this article will make you Angry and cause you to become Enlightened.

As I sat there watching and taking notes, there were several things that really irritated me. As each of these 3 Accused (Good Drivers) became frustrated with the proceedings and made any comments about this being an obvious cash grab by the city, I could hear the snickering and giggles behind me from the Comissionaires who were there to testify. It seems I guess in their minds that they feel they are doing us all a great service by doing their job. That and I think they somehow feel they are untouchable.

I felt like turning around and telling them to enjoy themselves now because things are going to be changing very soon. I instead restrained myself and continued to take notes on the trials.

The common denominators of all three trials were;

-The speeds recorded were at, near or below the original speed limit before the construction zone.

-No one was driving aggressively.

-They were nowhere near or passing any workers that would have made their speeds unsafe.

However this doesn't matter.....to the courts anyways. In fact in each photo you can not even see workers around. The first trial ended quickly as the lady was frustrated and gave up. The second trial, the lady pointed out and this fact was confirmed by the Commisionaire, that at the time of the offence It Was Raining!

She pointed out that because it was raining no one was working. The Crown viewed the photo and......Oh wait.....if you look at the photo, you can see off in the distance, (nowhere close to the lane of travel) there was a grader with it's lights on and a person sitting in it. So there was a worker present. Great Save! High five anyone.......anyone?

At this point it looked like the Judge was trying to swallow the bile that was building up in her throat from this BS. The conviction was entered, the Comissionaires giggled and the Accused near tears left the room with her fine of well over a hundred dollars.

I spoke with her briefly outside the room as I did with all three and gave her my card. Expressed to her my embarrassment of what has become our traffic court system and offered her advice in the event this should happen again.

The last trial involved a gentleman who was a passenger in the vehicle and advised that his girlfriend was driving but it was his mothers car so he was taking responsibility for the ticket. He advised the court that the area where the photo was taken, there were no workers close by, that they could see workers in the distance and that his girlfriend was letting the vehicle slow by coasting so when they would be close to the workers then their speed would be reduced to 60, at this point it was in the mid 70's.

On examination of the photo again it was pointed out that there was a grader, again well off to the side and nowhere close, it's lights were on and someone was in it so he had to be working. Conviction!

So the score at the end of the game;

-Bad Driver, No fine, No Demerits and leaves Smiling!

-Good Drivers- About $550.00 collectively in fines. No Smiles and a complete lack of respect for our system. But hey, at least there's no demerits and the streets are safe.

The sad thing is, had any of the three accused asked a few pertinent questions, it would have taken the trial into a 180 degree spin in their favor and they would have walked out smiling.

The even sadder thing is, that statistics show that overall in Manitoba, construction zones are safe and the high majority of people respect the workers and slow down when they are near them or passing them. In fact the majority of accidents and injuries at construction sites are Work Related! I'm not making this up, I've done my research.

Solution? Redesign the set up of the barricades at the entrance to the construction zones to force drivers to slow, or perhaps temporary speed bumps. Oh I forgot.....there's no revenue in that.

Safer Streets? No!

Mobile Cash Machines sucking the hard earned dollars out of honest taxpaying citizens pockets? Yes.

Quit Smoking Now

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