Not stop ticket is over

By NatMed Sep. 23, 2024

Today, a stone finally fell to the ground, and my heart was relieved. The lawsuit dragged on for a year and four months, but the case ended with the withdrawal of the lawsuit because the police did not arrive.

With a feeling of relief, I walked out of the old city hall building. Looking back on what happened over the past year, I feel quite emotional. The most prominent point is: argue with reason. Ostensibly, this time I won the case because the police didn’t show up. Rather, it is the lawsuit caused by improperly placed stop signs. To this end, I have made sufficient preparations. After the accident, I went to the scene to conduct on-site inspections, took photos of different locations, and interviewed local residents. Through this first-hand information, I am confident that I will win the case even if the police arrive.

The reasons are as follows:

1) The location of the stop sign setting is unreasonable. The road is divided into two parts, with a two-way motorway on the left (inside) and a two-way bicycle lane on the right (outside). Drivers cannot observe the sign on the right side of the road as usual, but must cross the outside of the two-way, three-meter bicycle lane to find the stop sign. The difficulty increases.

2) The stop sign size is too small. Some intersections have enlarged the size of the stop signs to make it easier for drivers to see the signs. However, this stop sign is a standard size and is not easy to spot.

3) The surrounding leaves obscure the sign. The trees surrounding the stop sign were dense, and with the midday sun shining down from above, the leaves were whirling, which greatly interfered with people’s observation.

4) Interference by cyclists. At that time, there were bicycles going back and forth in both directions on the bicycle lane, which interfered with my line of sight and failed to spot the stop sign.

These reasons can be learned from the mouths of the residents living nearby when I came to this intersection for the second time a few days later. After learning about my situation, a woman blurted out: “There are often cars driving past without stopping.” It can be seen that it is not that everyone ignores the stop sign, but that they don’t see the sign at all! This also fully proves that this stop sign setting is unreasonable.

There is another reason: it was my first time passing through Little Norway and I was not familiar with the environment. In addition, I was focused on observing the surrounding cars, bicycles and pedestrians, so I did not notice the stop sign here. It is not difficult to understand why I was surprised when I saw the police car turning on its lights. I have reason to suspect that the police are “entrapment law enforcement.”

For more information, please read “Little Norway, No Stop!“.

Let me tell you about my defense experience, maybe it will be helpful to others.

The ticket issued by the police stated that the fine was $110. (I asked the police and they would deduct 3 points). After waiting like this for more than a year, there was no news. Just when I was secretly glad that they had forgotten, a court notice arrived. The location is at 60# queen ST W, the old city hall. Since my insurance is close to renewal, if this ticket goes into effect before renewal, my insurance will definitely go up. For this reason, the court session needs to be moved back.

In this way, when I first received the notice, it was about two months before the court date. I took the time to go to the first floor of the Old City Hall to change the time, trying to postpone it as much as possible. As soon as you enter, go through the security check. Turn left in the lobby on the first floor, get your number and wait. I was later told that since it was too early for the trial,

I could arrange to stagger the court date, which could only be postponed for up to three weeks, but it would still be before my insurance was renewed. This is unacceptable. We had a fight about this, but it didn’t work out the first time.

This lasted until a few days before the trail, and then I went again. This time it has been postponed for another three weeks, but that was about it. Hard-won.

Today, it’s finally court time. The court was on the third floor. I arrived at the dead silent third floor and saw no one. Carefully pushing open the thick and ajar door, there were three people including the clerk inside. One of them asked me if he could settle the case before trial, which means I would admit my guilt and get a smaller fine without any points. I disagree. Because, if this is the case, the insurance company will still know and the insurance will definitely increase in the coming year. I’m here to get rid of the ticket once and for all, that is, to cancel it and make it as if it never happened. Only in this way will the insurance be unaffected. After waiting for a while, the judge came in. Everyone stood up and sat down again. There were five people in the huge room, and I was the only defendant. Is it possible that it’s all video conferencing now, so we don’t have to go all the way to court? It seems I am behind the times. They dealt with other cases first, and after about a quarter of an hour, it was finally my turn. I got up and walked to the table, and they arranged for a Mandarin-speaking translator, also via video. They then confirmed my name and again confirmed that the officer involved was not present and was not in the video. The judge smiled and said to me: “The case has been dismissed, you can go”.

I was relieved, and just like that, the lawsuit that had dragged on for a year and four months was finally over. This is exactly the result I wanted, although I prepared some photos for this, they were never used.