Fine and demerit points

• The traffic offence of disobeying a stop sign carries three demerit points. Apart from the fine, demerit points, as you know, impact your insurance rates and driving record.
• A traffic ticket for disobeying a stop sign is sure to affect your driving record and insurance premiums adversely. For this reason, it is always best to fight it instead of just paying the fine.

Options to pursue

• If you do decide to fight your stop sign ticket, however, your options will be:
  • to proceed with a settlement so you are convicted of some lesser charge or
  • go to trial, arguing that you are not guilty of any offence.
• Before you decide which option to pursue, it is important to keep in mind that while the stop sign ticket is very common, some defences that come to mind immediately are not usually successful.

Defences

• First, it is often the case that drivers are perplexed after being charged with disobeying a stop sign. The reason for that is they think they stopped.
• The reality is often that in law, they did not.  If you ever took driving lessons, you remember having to stop at the stop sign and hold the brake while you count to three. This is because, in law, you have not stopped until the car wheels stopped rotating. Anything other than a full stop counts as a rolling stop.
• If a police officer sees you make a rolling stop, chances are she/he will charge you with disobeying a stop sign. Therefore, unless you can prove that you came to a full stop, you are unlikely to be successful at trial and would most likely be convicted of disobeying a stop sign.
• Second, keep in mind that disobeying a stop sign is an absolute liability offence. This means that it does not matter why you did not fully stop at the sign. Even a grave situation such as racing to the hospital is not, unfortunately, a defence (though this may help lower your fine).

Overall, it is best to contact a legal professional before deciding how to proceed. Please feel free to contact us for a free assessment of your case.