A Quebec City lawyer is hoping to prove that photo radar is unconstitutional.
Jean-Roch Parent plans to file a class-action lawsuit because, he argues, using photo radar to detect speeding removes the presumption of innocence from the owner of the vehicle.
Parent’s argument is that the photo radar ticketing system assumes the car’s owner is at fault for the infraction and not the person driving.
“The owner of a car has to prove that he was not driving the car at the time of the offence,” he said. “This statute is against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms… (which) says clearly that in Canada, in criminal matters, the Crown has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you have committed the offence. It’s not you who has to prove you are not guilty.”
Anyone who is interested in joining the lawsuit may do so by visiting his website.
Parent said since 2009, almost 690,000 photo radar tickets have been issued from Quebec's 151 units. They have generated more than $92 million in revenue for the Quebec government.
Bernard Levy-Soussan of Ticket 911, a law firm representing people charged with traffic violations and criminal charges related to driving, is unsure how Parent’s battle will play out.
“He has merits to his case. To what extent he will be successful is a different story,” said Levy-Soussan, adding that the government would probably take the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada if possible, because of the renevue the tickets generate for the government.
He said most people tend to weigh the outcomes and decide not to proceed.
“At the end of the day, people don’t want to pay legal fees and don’t want to lose half a day or a day of work to go to court. They’d rather pay the ticket and just get it over with. That’s the reality of it,” he said.
Parent is not the first to take up the constitutional challenge against photo radar.
British Columbia businessman Doug Stead battled for five years in a futile battle over a 1996 photo radar speeding ticket.
Stead claimed he spent $120,000 to fight the $117 ticket.
