Help me reading Motor Vehicle Act 158 (1)
 

I got pulled over today on the highway and given this ticket of 158 (1). The officer said I was on the middle lane, switched to the right lane, and passed two cars, and switch back to the middle lane. I was reading the MVA and I think my situation is the exception (c). Can someone help me to see if I should dispute?

Thanks a lot!!!

Did you actually use a lane to pass, or the shoulder?

You're situation sounds more like "b" to me... which is a normal thing to do...not sure why he gave you a ticket. I think there is more to the story.

I use the middle lane out of the 3 lanes (excluding HOV) to pass.

On the ticket there is also speeding on highway violation. But read from many places that if a police officer is giving you a speeding ticket, it is basically over. Like ever judging with their eyes are sufficient for court. So I am not gonna do much about that. But I am thinking to dispute the specific "passing on the right" violation.

Ah, see now we have more information. You weren't pulled over just for passing on the right, but for speeding as well?

Why don't you give us all the information about your traffic stop, and then we might be able to give you some information that's helpful.

-D

Sound like speeding and passing on the right.FailFish
Suck it up and pay the ticket and dont pass on the right.
You are not going to be winner................. but maybe a whinner

When the cop pulled me over, he only told me that he pulled me over because I was "passing on the right". And then the speeding violation magically appeared...

I was asking if I have violated the "passing on the right" law. He gave me two offenses, and I think one of them were not legit. How is that whining? It is a $109 offense, and why should I pay if it is not correct? I am just asking here for people to read that 158 (1) and see if I have understood it correctly. If you think I deserve that 158 (1) violation, maybe explain to me why?

So did you use the middle lane or the right lane to pass?

Your action should have fallen under 158 (1) exception (b)

So if you're telling us the whole story I'm not sure why you would get a ticket. If I'm understanding your story correctly the highway is like this:

[HOV] [1] [2] [3]

and you moved from 1, to 2, passed the cars, and moved back to 1? In which case I'd think the vehicles you passed were in violation of 150 (1).

Sorry I got it confused... I was on the left most lane (excluding HOV) and switch to the middle lane to pass.

He said I was passing "on the right" of the cars on the left most lane.

Thanks! I would probably quote exception (b) in court. What about exception (c)? what is the difference?

I think the difference is whether it's a divided highway or not. B for non-divided, C for divided.

I think based on what you said, you can dispute the passing on the right ticket.

If that gets thrown out, you can try pushing your luck arguing then that the officer was wrong to stop you in the first place as you were not stopped for speeding. However, all the officer has to do then is just say you were speeding and he would have stopped you eventually anyways as you were traveling faster than others on the highway.

Yes I think at least I shouldn't be punished by a made-up accusation. I was also telling the officer that the reason I switched lane was because I clearly remember that I looked down at the speedometer and it was showing 80, and the sign is 90. That's why I switched lane and pass the cars.

He said I was going 18km/h over the limit, which I am sure that I wasn't, because it takes a lot to go from 80 to 108, and my car was barely accelerating. I think he was feeling a bit weak (or annoyed) after I told him that I wasn't aware of the passing on the right law, and then went on to add on the speeding violation. Because he toss me a line "now you will learn" after he heard that I said I wasn't aware of the "passing on the right" law.

Sounds like the cop wasn't particularly aware of the "passing on the right" law either....

Hmmm...You say you were speeding, and don't need to contest the speeding ticket. But then you say that you were doing 10km under the speed limit, pulled to the right to pass, but definitely weren't doing 108km an hour. How fast were you going? Were you speeding or not speeding?

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I've been to traffic court a few times in my years of driving and I can see this not going very well for you if you can't answer the questions that will be asked of you in court in a quick manner, and with 100% clarity.

Before you go and contest this you should do a few things:
1) make very clear and concise notes for yourself so you understand exactly what was going on when the incident occurred. Your court date is going to be 12+ months from now, and its seems as though you can't even get the story straight a couple of days later. This is going to hurt you in court.

2) You need to figure out if you were speeding or not speeding, and by how much.

3) You need to figure out if the car ahead of you was in violation of the "left lane hog" law or not. You should probably look up the law, and figure out if that car was in fact camping out in the left lane or not. Sometimes the way you tell the story sounds like it was, other times it sounds like you were just trying to get a move-on.

Your answers to #2 and #3 will help to determine which way you should going. The way I see it, it's possible you know you're guilty of both charges, and shouldn't contest any. It's possible you're guilty of one charge, but not the other. It's possible both the speeding ticket and passing ticket are invalid.

Have you ever been to traffic court? Do you know how to get full disclosure of the evidence which will be used against you? Are you willing to spend the time and money it takes to do so?

If I look at it the way you explained the situation initially, I'd suspect that you're guilty of passing on the right and you should probably just accept the tickets and pay your dues. Looking at the way you explain the situation further down, I actually wonder if both the speeding ticket and passing ticket are invalid and something you could be successful in court with. BUT I was not in the car, and I wasn't driving.

Your chances of contesting one ticket, while accepting the other ticket as guilty are going to be pretty slim. If you ARE guilty of one ticket, trying to plead innocence of the second ticket is going to be a big challenge...you better have your story straight, your evidence clear and KNOW you were not guilty of number two.

If I take the issue solely based on what was posted here, I would think you need to contest both tickets. Once the evidence and officer's notes arrive, you should be able to determine your chances of contesting it. You can decide to pay at anytime and admit your guilt, the only thing you lose is your "early payment" discount. But I'll tell you this, if you simply figure you'll remember, and don't really pay careful attention to the steps required to fight it...your day in court will be an expensive one for you.

-Dave

See, my understanding of this law has always been that it applies to passing on a shoulder or something similar that takes you essentially off the roadway or out of designated lanes. OP was on a multi-lane highway, and every variation of this story, including the initial telling, has him staying with defined lanes to pass:
"The officer said I was on the middle lane, switched to the right lane, and passed two cars, and switch back to the middle lane."

The cop could have written it for 158(2)(a) IF the move was done where it wasn't safe, or (b) if he'd gone onto the shoulder... but he wrote it under 158(1), where either exception (b) or (c) could apply to the situation as described.

Where did he say he was speeding? I see that he said he felt it was a pointless endeavour to contest that charge, but I didn't see him admit to speeding.

Clearly the officer is a bit confused here. Passing on the right where you have a full lane to do so is legal. The reason he passed was because the drivers blocking his lane were travelling below the speed limit. OP passed, legally, at a legal speed.