New Traffic Tickets Delay Law S. 11(b)

Traffic Tickets And The New Law on S. 11(b) Delay

Once a traffic violation ticket is disputed the Traffic Registry at the Provincial Court House in your jurisdiction will send you out a Notice of Hearing telling you when your court date is.

On July 8, 2016, the Supreme Court of BC ruled in R. v. Jordan, 2016 SCC 27 that provincial court trials should take place within 18 months of the offence date. Unfortunately, our traffic courts are incredibly backlogged in BC and depending on the city you live in you may not get a hearing date for up to 2 years!

Previously, defence lawyers had to prove that the delay between the time of the offence and the hearing date was unreasonable and created some sort of prejudice to their client. With the decision in Jordan, if this delay is over 18 months, the burden of proof now shifts to the Crown to prove that the delay was not unreasonable.

What Does This Mean For My Traffic Ticket Depute?

If the time between when you were given a traffic ticket and when your hearing date was scheduled for is over 18 months there is a presumption that Crown should stay your charges (in other words “throw your ticket out”).

What If It Hasn’t Been 18 Months Before My Hearing Date?

The Jordan decision does not prevent people from making section 11(b) delay applications if they are within the 18-month period. The case law varies from city to city in terms of “how long is too long” and many people are successful in getting their tickets thrown out on the basis of delay even when they’re hearing date is set sooner than 18 months from the date of the offence.

If you can show that you have been prejudiced by the delay in getting to court you stand a good chance of having the Crown stay your ticket.

How Do I Make My Delay Application?

Even though the law is presumptively in your favour now for cases taking longer than 18 months, defendants will still have to file a section 11(b) delay application alleging their Charter rights have been infringed and seek a remedy under s. 24(1).

An experienced lawyer will draft up the Charter Applications, as well as an affidavit which you must swear, and then submit these documents to the Crown Counsel in your jurisdiction.