Well, I DID Have My Day in Court...

There's a saying that goes something like this : "He who represents himself in court, has a fool for a lawyer."
Well, to that you can add: "If you have a fool for a lawyer, don't go to court on a Friday the 13th!"
I thought my trial on Friday, Jan. 13, 2006, on a charge of careless driving, would be a piece of cake. Not only would I win but the judge would compliment me on my brilliant defense.
Boy, was I wrong! The judge was not impressed.
After stating that anything my chief witness might testify would be irrelevant, he found me guilty and fined me $405.
(An even worse hit came later when my insurance company cancelled my policy and I had to renew with an insurer who more than doubled the premium... )
Last September, I had been helping my brother on his sheep farm west of Edmonton. On the way home, I was driving south on 149th Street, following a Jeep station wagon.
As we approached 111th Avenue, the Jeep driver braked suddenly. I couldn't stop in time and rear-ended her vehicle.
The Jeep was basically undamaged because the spare tire on its back door cushioned most of the blow. But the front of my old Mazda MPV van was caved in, the radiator was broken and its fluid spilled on the road.
(My insurance company later wrote off the van and I ended up having to buy a new car -- our fabulous 2006 Honda Civic.)
When a cop arrived 80 minutes after my first call, he said he had no choice but to charge me with careless driving. But he said he didn't believe it was an appropriate charge and that I should contest it.
He said the police have been instructed by Alberta Justice that in all such accidents, careless driving is the only charge they can lay.
In a later interview, his superior, a sergeant, told me that since it's rarely possible to prove a charge of 'following too close', Alberta Justice has directed police to lay the more serious careless driving charge.
Those charged usually end up doing a deal with the crown prosecutor, agreeing to plead guilty to a lesser charge of following too close, thereby avoding a trial and the need for police time in court.
The traffic sergeant told me he was writing a report to the Solicitor General, recommending that the Alberta Safety Act should be amended to include a new charge midway in seriousness between careless driving and following too close.
I did subpoena him and the traffic court judge grudgingly allowed me to call him to the stand.
But he cautioned that the only matter before him was my careless driving charge. Whether the police disagree with laying that charge is irrelevant, he said.
When I put myself on the stand, I made what I later realized was a crucial tactical error.
When asked how much distance there was between our vehicles as we approached the intersection, I got flustered and quickly guessed about 60 feet. It was probably closer to 30 feet. But the crown prosecutor leaped and said if I couldn't stop with a 60-foot separation, then I was following too close. And he said the Alberta courts have ruled that following too close is evidence of careless driving.
The judge agreed with him and found me guilty.
Before going into court, I knew I could likely make a deal with the crown prosecutor and plead guilty to following too close. The fine would have been $175.
But I airily told the crown prosecutor that I preferred to go to trial. He shrugged and as much as said, 'have fun'.
Had I consulted a lawyer and had he not been a money-grubber, I would likely have been advised to go for a deal with the crown prosecutor.
It was an expensive lesson, all around...
But I'm convinced that Alberta Justice has devised a devious way of getting drivers to plead guilty to a charge that basically cannot be proved in court.
Instead of having to prove a charge of following too close, they charge drivers with a more serious offence, knowing that most will agree to plead guilty to the lesser charge.
It's a perversion of justice, in my opinion. But who am I, anyway --- just a fool!