Ticket Help: Failure to Obey Peace Officer Directions

[RPM]

Hi all, I was hoping to get some advice before taking a day off work to fight the tickets I received. Thanks for reading.

Dec 14 8:30 PM

I received a ticket on my windshield for disobeying officers directions. I do not believe this is a fair ticket as when I pulled up to the intersection I received no clear directions from the officer. The officer was parked on the right side of the entrance, given the size of his car compared to the entrance it was difficult to tell if he was blocking through traffic or not. I assumed he was attempting to prevent motorists from entering the EMS scene further down the lane. I wanted to enter the parking lot to the north of the scene, which had available unobstructed access. Given the position of the EMS down the lane and the available entrance to the north parking lot, I believed this was a safe maneuver. Yes this was on the wrong side of the entrance, however, under sec 111(b) of the Traffic Safety Act, I believe this should be permitted. As I though I was following the directions of the officer, or at least to the best of my ability given the situation.

Initially confused how to proceed I waited for direction. It was dark and with the officers lights flashing he was invisible. He
remained inside his car and made no attempts to make himself visible. Based on his notes he was trying to direct me to the far north
entrance. I made my best guess as to what he wanted given the conditions. I do not believe a reasonable person should have been
expected to understand what the officer was communicating.

The only thing I think they might have me on is when I was waiting at the intersection. The officer moved forward about 1.5ft but left plenty of space to go around. This to me only made me think, Ok, I can go around and immediately away from the scene

What do you guys think?please take a look at the attached google map doodle.

To add extra insult, I originally received a municipal bylaw ticket which after going unpaid was changed to a provincial ticket. The officer thought this was a great time to add another ticket for " Driving Left of Centre" so now I have two tickets worth about $460 total

[FraserB]

What bylaw ticket did they issue for this that got changed to a charge under the TSA?

You're going to have a hard time showing that a reasonable person would assume that a police car blocking their lane of traffic means they should drive past them on the wrong side of the road towards other emergency personnel. If anything, a reasonable person would see their lane of travel blocked by a police car and an accident behind the cop and proceed on an alternate route.

[mazdavirgin]

Originally posted by FraserB
If anything, a reasonable person would see their lane of travel blocked by a police car and an accident behind the cop and proceed on an alternate route.

Especially since there is another entrance...

[RPM]

Thanks for the advice I definitely see where your coming from, maybe I just was not thinking clearly. In fairness I am not familiar with the area and did not see the north entrance further down

He did write in his notes that he signaled me to the north entrance. which he did so by pointing his hands north. which is the way I went, to the north. Just not Farrr north

Any argument there?

Its good to have people that aren't related to me looking at this objectively. thanks!

[J-D]

I think you're hooped based on the story, but you have to list the actual ticket infraction for someone to help you.

[RPM]

1 ticket is:
"Failure to obey directions of a peace officer" 160(1) R/O? Contravenes :58

not sure if it says P/O, Plo or Rlo cant read the writing

The other is:

" Driving Left of Centre" 160(1) R/O Contravenes: 12(1)

I thought I had a case based on the officer staying in his car andnot giving clear direction OR that his directions could easily be understood to go to the immediate left

[spikerS]

at least they are registered owner tickets. Shouldn't be any demerits then.

[FraserB]

You could try bringing up 12(1)c to get the left of centre ticket tossed.

12(1)
A person driving a vehicle shall not drive the vehicle so that
the vehicle or any portion of the vehicle is to the left of the centre
line of a highway except

(c)when the roadway to the right of the centre line is closed
to traffic

It would be a long shot, but you could state that since the officer was parked in the right lane and no police vehicle was blocking traffic from exiting the parking lot, and no clear instructions prohibiting the action were provided, the left lane was open to traffic and crossing the centre line was permissible.

You could also try to fight the direction charge using the same argument. The police officer provided no visible direction other than the closure of the right hand lane (as evidenced by his car being parked there). No closure of the left hand lane was indicated. You'd need to establish that the car's lights were activated and that the officer was in his car the whole time to try this though. The question would be whether or not someone could identify an officer's movements within a darkened vehicle interior and their intent while looking directly into flashing lights at night.

When the officer moved his car, did he move it to the right (south) or left (north)? If he moved south, I'd use that action (that was clear to you), to bolster the case for the left lane still being open and to show that you interpreted the only actions you were able to see.

[RPM]

I am a little worried about the inch forward as a signal to not go through. This would certainly wreck any possible defense. This movement was to the North or left on the photo. However why not go all the way? I guess he didn't want to block emergency vehicles from leaving . But ya all I saw was an emergency straight ahead in an area I did not want to access anyway and an open clear lane to the area I did want to access. It was hard for my brain to say "no dont"

Thanks for the tips, If you have any more ideas let me know

In short The ticket is for failing to obey directions however were there really any directions? Is general car position and a slight move forward enough?

[FraserB]

Originally posted by RPM
I am a little worried about the inch forward as a signal to not go through. This would certainly wreck any possible defense. This movement was to the North or left on the photo. However why not go all the way? I guess he didn't want to block emergency vehicles from leaving . But ya all I saw was an emergency straight ahead in an area I did not want to access anyway and an open clear lane to the area I did want to access. It was hard for my brain to say "no dont"

Thanks for the tips, If you have any more ideas let me know

In short The ticket is for failing to obey directions however were there really any directions? Is general car position and a slight move forward enough?

In that case, just don't bring up the car moving.

You took the police car in the right lane as direction that that lane was closed to traffic. Since there was no car or barricade in the left lane closing it, you proceeded as 12(1)c allowed you to.

The officer may have given hand signals to you, but was seated inside a darkened car at night, at a distance and had his light bar activated when he did so. The only direction you could observe was the closure of the right lane, which you followed by not driving in the right lane. The officer made no attempt to stop you from proceeding when you began driving towards the entrance.

[My_name_is_Rob]

Going into the Multiplex eh? Since it isn't really a highway, and is a parking lot instead, would that still be considered the same thing in the eyes of the law?

[Star1995]

A reasonable person would have stayed clear of that entrance. You really think it's a good idea to drive around a police car that is blocking traffic, I can see the police car leaving room on the left side for other EMS vehicles not yours and any reasonable person would realize that.

[speedog]

Originally posted by RPM
I am a little worried about the inch forward as a signal to not go through. This would certainly wreck any possible defense. This movement was to the North or left on the photo. However why not go all the way? I guess he didn't want to block emergency vehicles from leaving . But ya all I saw was an emergency straight ahead in an area I did not want to access anyway and an open clear lane to the area I did want to access. It was hard for my brain to say "no dont"

Thanks for the tips, If you have any more ideas let me know

In short The ticket is for failing to obey directions however were there really any directions? Is general car position and a slight move forward enough?

To be brutally honest, if this was hard for your brain to say no in this situation then this probably won't be the last time you'll have problems like this either.

You remind me of a 60 something old friend of my wife who got pulled over for speeding west of the city on the TransCanada and then left before the RCMP officer came back with his DL, insurance, registration and speeding ticket. This guy thought the officer was taking too long and left, the officer followed him into Calgary and then gave him an additional ticket for leaving the scene or something like that.

A normal person just doesn't do that shit, I won't say unintelligent because this guy is quite intelligent but it was a big brain fart on his behalf and yours was a big brain fart on your behalf. It's sort like the old saying 'measure twice, cut once', maybe just take a few more seconds to analyze the situation and possibly come to a better solution.

[gwill]

im surprised we got so many posts im before someone needs to tell the op how stupid or wrong he was.

Id fight it and see how it goes. It being dark and the cop not giving clear directions could get things reduced to a reasonable fine.

[Feruk]

I'm surprised people are giving OP shit for driving around a police car... we all do it every day when a cop pulls a guy over. We don't turn around and take another road.

Good luck OP, I'd definitely fight this one.

[Hallowed_point]

I'd fight it as well. Sounds like a fairly bogus ticket. Perhaps the officer was having a shitty shift, didn't need to take it out on you over something so trivial.

[FraserB]

Originally posted by speedog


To be brutally honest, if this was hard for your brain to say no in this situation then this probably won't be the last time you'll have problems like this either.

You remind me of a 60 something old friend of my wife who got pulled over for speeding west of the city on the TransCanada and then left before the RCMP officer came back with his DL, insurance, registration and speeding ticket. This guy thought the officer was taking too long and left, the officer followed him into Calgary and then gave him an additional ticket for leaving the scene or something like that.

A normal person just doesn't do that shit, I won't say unintelligent because this guy is quite intelligent but it was a big brain fart on his behalf and yours was a big brain fart on your behalf. It's sort like the old saying 'measure twice, cut once', maybe just take a few more seconds to analyze the situation and possibly come to a better solution.

The two situations are nothing alike.

Your friend was pulled over already, then decided that his time was too valuable and decided that he could drive without his license and other documents.

OP can make a case for his actions using exemptions provided in law.

[max_boost]

Okay. So the Cop was ticked off probably you didn't follow instructions and gave you 1 ticket but was the second one necessary

Anyway, don't blame ya. When in school my teachers would always write on the report cards "Needs improvement for following instructions" so I probably would have messed it up too if I didn't know where I was going/familiar with the roads.

In downtown people are always driving down the wrong 1 way all the time

[max_boost]

Anyway with that said it's all discretion lol during the last snow storm I saw a couple different cars sliding through a red light and the cop car was right there and didn't do anything hehe

[OTown]

Originally posted by Feruk
I'm surprised people are giving OP shit for driving around a police car... we all do it every day when a cop pulls a guy over. We don't turn around and take another road.

Good luck OP, I'd definitely fight this one.

You're telling me that if there's a police car parked perpendicular to the roadway in the entrance of a lot across the lane that you would have no second thoughts about driving around it?

I would stay as far from that as I could IMO. What if its a crime scene and the OP just contaminated it by driving into it?