In a decision destined to dash the dreams of leadfooted armchair lawyers, British Columbia’s top court has thrown cold water on the commonly-held myth a poorly written speeding ticket is an automatic get-out-of-jail-free card.
In a ruling released this week, the B.C. Court of Appeal overturned a lower court victory for a man who was able to quash a speeding ticket because it didn’t identify exactly which traffic control device he failed to obey.
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Vancouver lawyer Kyla Lee highlighted the decision in a blog.
“It will crush a lot of home lawyers or people who were looking for an easy way out of their tickets,” she told CBC.
“It’s a commonly held misconception that a mistake on a violation ticket can lead to the ticket being thrown out.”
Lee says the type of errors that would actually get a ticket thrown out include problems with the time, date or location of the offence — “that strike at the core of the allegation, or if the wrong section was charged entirely.”
The appeal court ultimately set aside the order quashing Robinson’s ticket and restored his provincial court conviction.
Lee wasn’t surprised.
“There’s definitely a myth that tickets can be thrown out due to minor errors. I’m not sure how the myth got perpetuated, because I’ve never seen anything that would suggest otherwise,” she said.