From the government’s point of view, there is a science to setting the fee for breaking speeding laws at just the right level. The idea is to get as high as possible without making the penalty so high that people will actually fight it. How to fight a speeding ticket in Ontario costs the government insane amounts of money when you consider that they have to pay a police officer to appear in court, a judge, and a prosecutor, as well as all of the other assorted court costs.
From our POV, the actual cost of the ticket should not be the real hang up. The far larger consideration is that your insurance costs will rise. Young people already pay the highest insurance rates in a society, so a ticket or two can really jack up the monthly amount taken out of your bank account. It’s these costs that add up far faster than the $200 slap on the wrist.
It’s Not the Fine, It’s the Insurance Hit
The hit to your insurance is also the reason why you should almost never take a plea deal when you fight traffic tickets Toronto. Just for showing up in court the judge will almost assuredly offer you 50% off of the ticket if you plead guilty and save the court a bunch of time and energy (our courts are generally so backed up that this is considered a good deal for them). Don’t take this offer. While you may pay as little as $30 or $40 upfront it will likely still affect your insurance. The cop, judge, and prosecutor may try to intimidate you, but don’t worry, you’re only fighting a small traffic ticket, it’s nothing criminal – it’s just a numbers game to fill government coffers, and a plea deal will almost assuredly affect your insurance no matter what the powers that be tell you.
I should also note that I personally got tagged once by a red light traffic camera. In this instance I opted to pay the fine instead of taking the time to go down to court and plead my case. The reasoning behind this was that red light traffic camera infractions cannot be held against you on your insurance since no one can prove it was you driving (the camera catches your car and sends the bill to whomever it was registered to). Fighting a red light camera ticket is a lot more difficult and the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze to me in terms of cost/benefit analysis. I think most people are probably better off paying the fine and moving on in this case since your insurance company won’t get involved and your true costs stay pretty low (exactly the thinking the government wants to encourage).