Last week I visited Montreal from Toronto and was staying at the Queen Elizabeth hotel. I drove to the front entrance around 9:10am and asked the bell hop where to park. What I didn’t realize is that lane is reserved for buses until 9:30am.  I stayed in the car and talked to the bell hop through the window for 15 seconds.

Once he gave me directions and I proceeded to exit the lane but was stopped by a police trap set up for catching people in the bus lane. My defense is that as a tourist I was simply asking for parking directions with no intention of driving in that lane.  I was not in the reserved lane before I was pulled over.  I don’t see any demerit points on the ticket… Is this right?  Any chance to fight this?

Thanks for your help.

Adeel

He informed me that I would be receiving a citation in the mail while we were still on the highway over his loud-speaker. I was driving home from work with the cop in front of me most of the way. Just before leaving the highway I pulled even with him for the first time, while driving even with him for a moment he got behind my car to get a look at my tag then started talking to me via his load speaker.

He asked me if I it was my car. I shook my head “yes” and then he told me I would be receiving a citation in the mail for driving 70 in a 55. I guess my questions are: can a cop pull you over without actually pulling you over, since I did not pass him at any point and only was even with him the whole trip can I report him for speeding, and since he did not get me with a radar gun do I have a way to contest his assessment of my speed.

If there is anything I can do to contest the way this all happened please let me know.

Do you think there’s any point at all in my contesting the ticket? There’s obviously no contesting the fact that the renewal wasn’t paid by the due date - and I suppose the reality is that the onus is really on me to be aware that my driver’s licence needs to be paid every year in January - regardless of whether or not I get the notice in the mail.  But do you think I’d have any chance of having the fine lessened or something if I contest?  $444 is an awfully expensive lesson for what was an oversight on my part.

Thanks!

Thank you

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.

which driver license i have.I have 2 driver’s license one is from my country of origin (mexico) and and international translation driver’s license which expires on 13-feb-02.

so i went and payed the speeding ticket $140 and asked a dismissal of the no driver’s license ticket.And the girl at the desk said no and that i have to go a hearing with a grand jury to contest the ticket.

i told her i have no other choice but to contest because i wasn’t driving without driver’s license.

this is costing me days of work .what should i do?

Week before Christmas I was on my way off the Montreal Island by Champlain bridge. It was 7.30 am, and the most left lane is closed and used for inbound bus traffic. The lane is “closed off” with cones located approximately 200 m before the span.

Details of the lane configuration:20m    2 lanes becomes 3 lanes by “entry lane” from right.
0m        1’st sign overhead of most left lane with Big red X.
313 m    2nd sign with big red X
480 m    Exit 57S to ile de Soeurs
660 m    Exit 57N to ile de Soeurs
750 m    Officer located
1120 m    Location of cones

My event: This morning traffic was quite light and I was traveling in the most left lane coming off the 720/Decarie. Speed limit is at the location 70 km/h, but I would estimate traffic flow was at 80-85 km/h. Normal pace, but not excessive.

When passing the first sign with the red X,  I had a car on my right and could not merge to the center lane immediately. I proceeded with maintained speed for a distance to see if the car in the center lane had intentions to exit on 57S or 57N. As we aproached 57S, this vehicle was still on my right and had made no indication to change lane. I then decided to slow down get in behind him. This occurred approximately at the 500 m mark. I was in center lane at approximately at 550 m.

This is when the officer pulled me over and I received a ticket for use of closed lane. ( I think) -I have requested, but not yet received a translation of my infraction as the officer refused to communicate in any English.

Indeed, I used a closed lane, but there are circumstances:
1) There is no pre-advanced signalization or indication of closed lane prior to the red X. That means you can not be expected to be merged immediately at the first sign, and consequently it must be accepted to travel “a certain distance” in the closed lane. –What distance should be accepted will be up to the judge in this case. Is it 100m, 200m 500m, subject to traffic intensity, subject to weather?

2) As the highway only have two lanes until 20 m before the first sign, it is not possible for all traffic crossing the bridge to use this single lane. Another reason why it must be accepted to travel for a certain distance in the most left lane.

3)Much of the traffic between the 1st and 2nd sign is exiting on 57S or 57N. There are no exit ramps on those exits. It is unreasonable to expect all “span” traffic to merge immediately after the first sign and “mix” with traffic exiting on Ile de Soeurs. Hence it must again be accepted to travel “a certain distance” in the most left lane.

4) Local tradition at the location, is to maintain in the most left lane for a certain distance and wait for possible openings in the center lane by cars moving from center to right. This works well as long as drivers does not take advantage to use the most left lane to speed and pass other traffic. In practice, drivers use the lane to merge safely to the center lane well in advance of the cones. Traffic does typically not “panic” to merge to the center lane. Just like I did in this case.

5) I did not stay in the most left lane to gain advantage over other traffic. I did not speed up after the first sign to “cut off” and “cut in” to the center lane.

Obviously from a legal point of view, #1 is my strong argument.

This is pretty much my case. Opinions? Any chance to win this in court? In my opinion, it is at least a questionable infraction. Perhaps I should have merged at 400 m instead of 500m, but what distance would be acceptable? (Distance beyond the sight of the officer)?

Best regards

Per Ekegerd
Pierrefonds

Due date was 30th Nov and I was caught on 4th Jan.
I did not receive a renewal notice from the department and contacted them on 9th Dec via mail and they responded back to me saying  that my address on the file is not right and they received the documents back.

I left for US the same day and returned on 1st Jan. After which the office was closed untill 3rd Jan and I did not use my car for that duration.I have the air tickets to prove my travel from 9th Dec to Jan 1st and the phone records to prove that I did try to contact various service centres to check when they will be open on 2nd Jan.

On 4th Jan I left to pay for the registration but I took my car with me and was caught in the morning.

I am not sure if I can put a strong case with the judge for my right intentions to pay the dues.
The mistake I made in the whole case was that I took my car with me instead of going by Metro or Cab.

What is your opinion on this, any feeback will be appreciated.

Thanks

However, the signs were not visible: one was partly covered by a tree (which I took a picture of later on), and the other was completely covered by a huge construction truck… and right behind that truck was where the cops we located (bastards).

I tried to explain to the cop that the signs were not visible and all he could say is “je peu pas faire rien…”

So should I contest the ticket?

Thank you so much for the effort and the service you are providing, it is nice to know that I’m not alone sharing these frustrating situations.

In my case, this morning happened while I was taking my kid to daycare. I was turning right on a big street not knowing the right lane was a reserved lane. However, as soon as I finished turning I realized I was on a reserved lane so I directly do right turn to get in a parking lot as to clear lane. As I was getting back to go the main street (the middle lane this time), the police officer stopped me and gave me a ticket.
Now I understand that this was a reserved lane but I could only see it once I got onto that street and I made a reasonable effort to get out of that street by getting into the parking lot (within 2-3 seconds) instead of blocking the lane waiting for the rush hour cars to let me in the middle lane.

Do you think I have a chance to make that argument at the court and win?

Thank you so much for your help!