Monday, April 28, 2003

Part 2

He said, "You'll be first, but the Crown Prosecutor won't be here until 9:30, you can go and come back later, or just wait right there for him to call you."

Getting there at about 8:10 was a real plus, because the waiting area filled up quite fast after I sat down, and by the time I was completely done, the entire office was packed. When the Crown Prosecutor finally called me in, I had a chance to explain my situation to him. I had prepare my argument earlier that morning, and I'll give you a shortened version.

1. The construction zone had a portable sign that was not properly visible.
2. There were no people doing construction at the site at the time of the infraction.
3. There was little traffic. No cars traveling in front for 500 meters and no cars passed by us for the entire time that the officer was writing the ticket.
4. In the direction I was headed there were two completely unobstructed lanes and a shoulder on the right hand side of the road, a third lane and the other shoulder were partially closed by pylons.
5. I was traveling in the outside lane, and the closed lane was on the inside.
6. The police were inside the construction zone monitoring the speed of traffic, but I had not yet entered the zone when they signalled me to pull over.


He said, "Well I can definitely bring this down. How does $70 sound, that’s 12km/h over the speed limit." (Remember I was clocked at 85 in a 60)

I said, "Can you do any better than that?"

He said, "No, not really. I know that those portable signs are hard to see, but they put up big signs about three months ago, I travel that road all the time."

I said, "I don't go by there very often, but I'm a student, I don't have a job yet, and my student loan ran out last month. Can you bring it down any more?"

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