Hi,

I am living in Montreal temporarily, a couple of weeks.  I drove from Ontario with a rental car, Ontario plates.  This morning I heard the car being towed.  I ran out and pleaded with the driver not to take it away.  He was extremely professional and understanding and dropped the car.  However the other agent gave me a ticket for $117.00 for parking in a snow removal area on the street.

Since I have a rental from Ontario and my Driver’s License is from New Brunswick, can I pretend that I did not get the ticket in that it is too much tracking (Ontario plates, New Brunswick DRL and rental car) or is there any other way around this infraction?

I simply did not know what the protocol was in Montreal.  I was parked on this road for three days and no issues until this morning.

Regards,
Infracted in Montreal.

This isn’t fun… Of course you would have stop if you saw it… Same thing for everybody…

Laurence story on the behalf on a pedestrian crossing :
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Hello to all of you,
On May 11th, I got a ticket because I didn’t respect a pedestrian crossing when a pedestrian was engaged.

First of all, I never saw the pedestrian crossing since the line were completely vanished

Secondly, I never saw a pedestrian engaged, if that would have been the case, I would have stop, I am not a savage who runs over pedestrians in the street.

Question :
Can the vanished lines be a good way to talk about the ambiguity of the location where 3 police cars were parked to pull over people, which is a kind of trap if you ask me.

Secondly, can the officer prove out of any doubt that indeed their was a pedestrian engaged, with a picture. Since if it is only on our word, then it is his against mine…

Thank you and congratulations on your marvellous website that help us on many aspects.

May 30th
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My opinion : (more…)

The little story of the Cedric who lost his case and had the kindness to share it with us… Towed during a snow removal operation…

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Hello, I just wanted to share my experience !
I got towed 2 years ago during snow removal operation and I contested.

Here where I was parked : googlemap

So I taught the limit was between Charlesbourg and Limoilou was the Felix-Leclerc highway, so I taught I was in Limouilou, there are lights for the snow removal operations, but there wasn’t any on my street and I taught that this could help my case in court.

In front of the judge, I just look really silly… He simply said that : The city had the obligation to put the information about the snow removal operations accessible to the public by giving a phone number or by giving the information on the internet website of the city in question. On their part, the citizen must take notice of the information before parking their car. (more…)

Like many others that published their story, Maryse, while visiting, got a ticket because of the snow accumulation and was questioning the snow removal signalisation politics…

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Hello,
I would like to know what the snow removal signalisation politics are. We were visiting our family during the Holidays and this took place in the city of Quebec, in the Des Rivières neighbourhood. We were in a residential neighbourhood with apartments so there were a very few parking spaces. We found a street which, on one side, clearly said with sings that it was forbidden to park on that side of the road.

On the other side of the street… no sign at all. There was quite some snow since it was on the night of December 29h. We were towed. The ticket says this: Forbidden parking from 11pm to 6am, snow removal operation. On December 31, we were in an other neighbourhood in the city and the snow removal operation was occurring (for the same snow fall) since the man that comes before the snow removers came and ask us to move our car (many witness were there). So when not giving any notice, how can the city give those tickets ?

Plus, we don’t live in the city of Quebec. Is it possible to contest with the distance ?

The reason is an economic one. On a 117$, it is one day of work plus my gas for going back and forth in order to contest. But, in order to be fair, and if I had chances, I would like to avoid this to other persons. I would like to go further without having to drive.

Thank you

Maryse

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My opinion : (more…)

Maxime got a very bad surprise when he got back at his car…. Not only did he got a ticket, snow removal signalisation being pretty rare, but furthermore, his car had been towed !!!

We contest !

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Hello, here is my situation,

On Sunday night of December the 13th, I get out on Crescent Street with a friend. I found a parking lot at the 4th car starting from the corner of the Crescent /Maisonneuve Street. I get out of my vehicle, my friend and I check at the no parking signs, every thing is fine we are in the good hours. No orange signs for the snow removal in sight either. We are going towards the bar which is maybe 300meters south of my car and on all are way to the bar, we only see one orange snow removal sign at the corner of Crescent/Ste-Catherine Street, but thinking that it was not for are parking place since it is isolated and 200meters away from our parking place… Unfortunately, we got out of the bar at 1h30 am and my car got towed like the other 10 cars that was parked on that side of the road.

I cannot believe that the only way for them to say that they will remove the snow is by putting only one sign! We are not supposed to go and have a hunt to find the signs ! (more…)

Obviously snow is tricky these days… Peter’s story below is one where a red light was missed because of the snow… No doubt… red light and snow = danger !
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I also passed on a red light on February 20 of 2009. There was a lot of wind and it was snowing. I was driving heading West, I was going to pick up my kids when I got at this crossroad (Breboeuf and 132). I was driving at a 50 km/h speed when the light turned yellow. I put the breaks, my truck started to slip because of the snow and the wind. It was too late to stop, so I continued. A bit farther, a police officer gave me a 150$ ticket and 3 demerit points.

Should I contest ?

Thank you !
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Dear Peter, there is some details missing in order for me to see if you got a chance… but with was you wrote… you did an infraction… but you still could contest and see what the judge will say about it…

This depends on where the police officer was located, the speed you were driving… in your case it is more complicated then the two before… you don’t seem to have stopped at all… You didn’t just overpass the line by a few inches… and you didn’t seem to pass on the yellow light… it seems like you passed on the red light without trying to stop… Yes it was too late, but maybe you were going to fast… I don’t know… it is up to you to see how the situation really occurred

Start by demanding the communication of the evidence…

Pascal’s story probably happened too many of you… a dusty snow… a slippery street… and hop! We are not able to stop properly at the stop sign… crap! Here is his story as he told it…

Hello dear Sir King of the ticket contesting,
if you want to, I would like to propose you my story like many other did. You can probably help me out. By the way, nice job, I like what you are doing. I discovered your website while I was on Google.

So here is my story : Sunday afternoon, January 25th 2009, near 1pm, since a dusty snow felt down during the night, I got in my vehicle with my girlfriend in order to do some quick purchases. I get out of my ward as usual and drive towards the crossroad near by my home in order to turn on my right. When I came to stop my car at the stop sign, my car started to slip, my ABS breaks are working and so my car wants to go straight ahead. (more…)

The lady was not happy… An other victim (innocent) of frozen road… Her story is below…

Hello, my story is much like Jean-Sebastien’s story a few details only differs. Here it goes: I was driving heading east, there was a lot of traffic and the road was slippery (frozen). A few feet’s away (5to7ft approximately), the light turns yellow at the crossroad. I didn’t have time to break since I was to close from the stopping line and I was scared that a pileup occurs. In a fraction of a second, I took the decision to pass on the yellow light since I saw there was no car waiting at the red light.

I maintain the fact that the light just pass to yellow and not red, that I didn’t have the time to stop at the crossroad and that I took the right decision regarding the circumstances. The reason why I could stop my car wasn’t the speed, but the fact that the road was slippery. I mentioned to the police officer that I engaged my car on the yellow light, but the light wasn’t red at anytime. He didn’t say anything and gave me the ticket. I plead not guilty and posted it. I am waiting for the hearing date. Do you believe that I have a chance? Thank you!
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Here is what I think…
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Poor Jesse… even if he knew that a police car was there, he still got caught because of bad luck or carelessness ?

Here is what got him an infraction for “Driver that didn’t reduce his speed when the road was slippery”. (Driver that didn’t reduce his speed even when the road was slippery).

Can he defend himself at the courthouse ?***

Hello Sir!

I had a look at your website and I truly enjoyed. I share my story with you in order to know if I have chance to get myself out of trouble!!

Everything starts on the night of February 18th, night where my friends and I got together for some drinks… I left my car at a friend’s house in order to avoid drinking and driving. The morning after (February 19th) I am at my house and I borrow my brother’s car to go to school since I left my car is at my friend’s place.

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Quebeckers dearly cherish their winter season… well we get use to it. Maybe we are too use to it when we drive? Do we have the tendency to not see that we are going to fast? Here is the article 330 of the SAAQ concerning snowy conditions.

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Hello, on the Meteomedia website, I was able to access the meteorological archives:
Results of the research: From December 31st to January 1st 2008-Lacadie
Maximum temperature: -2.1oC
Date of the maximum temperature: December 31st 2007
Minimum temperature: -9.9oC
Date of the minimum temperature: December 31st 2007
Precipitation: 27.9mm

Source: http://www.meteomedia.com/index.php?product=historical&placecode=caqc0335

So, here is the journey of my ticket art 330 of the SAAQ… On December 31st, I was driving towards Granby on the highway 10. There were about 2 to 3 inches of snow on the road. Near Marieville, a police officer who was in the right lane of the road parked his car on the lay-by. So, I properly and safely drove my car on the other lane and drove on the left side of the road. I was driving at a 70 kilometres an hour. Speed witch in those kinds of winter conditions seems to be safe and appropriate to keep a good control of my vehicle. It’s at this moment that the police officer opened his flashing lights and went from the right lane to the left lane and to the right lane again, he slip his vehicle between my car and the one that was following me and ask me to park my car on the side of the highway. Then, the police officer gave me a ticket that is, to me, not justified. So this is my story that took place on December 31st 2007. Consequently, I plead not guilty to this accusation since I’m convinced that my judgment towards my driving in those driving conditions was safe and appropriate for my and for the other drivers.

In May of 2009, I got a ticket at the courthouse; the defense lawyer mentioned the facts like this: the police officer drove at me at a 112 km/h speed, cars that slipped off the road, thing that I didn’t see. I told him that I changed of lane in order to reach the next exit to go put gas in my tank and that I was driving at a speed that seems reasonable to me. I also told him that I couldn’t miss work in the winter time because of the weather… since I’m working on the road.

She told me: “Ok, so I will summon the police officer to the hearing. If he doesn’t show up, then you will automatically win.”

My questions are: Will the police officer be there at the courthouse? Since it is at the demand of the defense, if I lose, what will happen ? For the fees and the other things… Should I bring the Meteomedia information that I have gathered for that precise day ?

Thank you in advance and good luck with your site, it is very interesting to have comments and to read other people stories.

Pascal

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My opinion,

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