Last night I T-Boned a transit bus... | GTAMotorcycle.com

Last night I T-Boned a transit bus...

Fight it, and don't report to your insurance company. Screw that nonsense... why raise your own rates? Let em find out on their own.
 
If there really was a tree obstructing a stop sign, do NOT forget to go back there NOW (before someone goes ahead and removes some branches or leaves) and get a time-and-date-stamped picture of what it looks like on the approach to the sign.

There are regulations for sign placement and visibility that the sign has to meet.
 
Can you take some pictures of the stop sign to show that it was obscured by a tree?

edit: Brian beat me to it
 
Coaxial said:
Hey everybody I am new to this forum and looking for help and advice,

I was in a residential area going about 40kph = 24mph. A tree obstructed a stop sign and I went through. A bus(Toronto Transit) was coming from the intersecting road(from my right). The bus sped up to avoid me and I turned right to avoid him. I collided with the left side of the bus before the rear wheels. I am lucky that I did not even hit the ground, I stayed on my feet. No one was on the bus and the bus driver was unhurt. The bus was scratched on the left side

My bike a Suzuki Boulevard s40 2007 model had its front forks bent and a right peg broken off.
I only have my M1 license(cannot ride during the night) and it happened at night. I took an approved safety course and passed entitling me to an M2 license after my minimum 60 days of the M1 license. The minimum 60 days ends at June 13.

I now have a ticket for $110 and a failure to obey a stop sign. I am told I should go to court and fight it and get demerit points reduced for insurance purposes.

The police officer let that license issue slide because I told the truth on what happened. Should I fight this in court or just take it as it is? Should I contact my insurance company (statefarm) or wait to see if the bus company files? Should I tell them about the ticket?

Summary: Crashed into a bus with as a novice rider with a license restriction. No one hurt. Asking what to do now.
Photos of the bike damage http://imgur.com/a/Skybd
Photo of the tire without the embedded debris: http://i.imgur.com/mQrIS.jpg
Click to expand...

Ok, I'm going to start with the obvious question.. If you have an M1 license, and you know you're not supposed to be driving at night, why were you driving at night?

Just pay the ticket. DO NOT try and fight it. Just because the officer did not charge you with the license issue does not mean he didn't put it in his notes. If you attempt to fight the first ticket, the second issue WILL come up in court.

As for your insurance.. I'm not an expert when it comes to dealing with insurance companies, I'm sure someone else will chime in, i know their are at least a few on the forum here who work in the insurance business.. but personally I would not call them, I would just wait it out.. although I have no doubt the TTC will file a claim.
 
If you fight it go back to the scene and photograph the obscured sign as part of your defense.

As for not reporting it, you hit a municipal bus, would the driver not reported the accident at the end of his shift?
 
Brian P said:
If there really was a tree obstructing a stop sign, do NOT forget to go back there NOW (before someone goes ahead and removes some branches or leaves) and get a time-and-date-stamped picture of what it looks like on the approach to the sign.

There are regulations for sign placement and visibility that the sign has to meet.
Click to expand...

short stop said:
Can you take some pictures of the stop sign to show that it was obscured by a tree?

edit: Brian beat me to it
Click to expand...

woobie said:
If you fight it go back to the scene and photograph the obscured sign as part of your defense.

As for not reporting it, you hit a municipal bus, would the driver not reported the accident at the end of his shift?
Click to expand...

This would be good advice IF you did not have another more serious violation the officer looked the other way on.. a disobey sign ticket is the best you could have hoped for in this situation.. fighting it WILL prompt the officer to bring up the fact that you were driving in a scenario where your license was not valid. The officer didn't forget about it, he was doing you a favor and if you repay him by taking it to court it won't go well for you. You MAY have a case on the first ticket, but you don't on your real violation.
 
You won't win any ticket you don't fight.
Fight every ticket you get and get some proof of the tree blocking the sign before its trimmed like already mentioned.
As far as driving at night, (what time did this happen) that may screw you over but just tell them that you were returning from somewhere and was not dark yet when you left?
 
If he didn't write you a ticket or the license issue isn't there a statute of limitations for that? By the time you get your court date it'll likely be past the time that he can charge you with that offense also so I'd say fight the stop sign ticket. Just as others have said go take a pic of it obstructed. Boooya is right, every ticket you don't fight is a ticket you lose on. If more people fought their bs tickets it would eventually start to cost them more than they were making and might start to think twice about writing tickets that have no merit.
 
Uh, wasn't there an accident report done? If I'm not mistaken your insurance company owes the city for repairs. Your insurance will find out about it. You're pretty screwed bud.

On top of it all the forks are bent? Bye bye bike
 
When the bus driver reports the accident, you will be contacted by the reporting facility. Then your insurance will find out. And since it happened after dark you will not have coverage.

One question the reporting center asks is time of incident and when it comes up that it was past sun down, you're in the s hitter.
 
Isn't there an option on the back of the ticket to see a prosecutor first? If there is and you take the pictures that show the obstructed sign, time stamped, and they agree it's obstructed they would simply strike the ticket there probably.

As for insurance....lots of conflicting advice on here....check your policy and maybe their website but I'm pretty sure you are required to report any accident. If you don't and Transit puts through a claim and lists you, they will find out about it and would have cause to terminate your insurance altogether. You're in a tough spot on insurance I think.
 
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C-Note said:
When the bus driver reports the accident, you will be contacted by the reporting facility. Then your insurance will find out. And since it happened after dark you will not have coverage.

One question the reporting center asks is time of incident and when it comes up that it was past sun down, you're in the s hitter.
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If Police attended the scene it won't go through reporting center, but the officers report will have the time of the accident. I hadn't considered the insurance company denying coverage because he shouldn't have been on the road, but its an interesting thought.. maybe VifferFun will chime in on this?
 
OP wasn't given a ticket for that particular offense in the first place. Can they suddenly lay that charge once he shows up in court? I'm no expert, but I've never heard of that....

Going to court and fighting the Disobey Sign isn't a waste of taxpayer money if the sign was legitimately being blocked, regardless of what time he was out on the bike.
 
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short stop said:
OP wasn't given a ticket for that particular offense in the first place. Can they suddenly lay that charge once he shows up in court? I'm no expert, but I've never heard of that....

Going to court and fighting the Disobey Sign isn't a waste of taxpayer money if the sign was legitimately being blocked, regardless of what time he was out on the bike.
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I agree completely that if a sign was obstructed that is a legitimate reason to fight a ticket. My comment was in reference to the "fight every ticket" mentality that has been displayed.. however in this instance the rider did SOMETHING wrong and got off pretty easy.. regardless of the fact that the ticket isn't for what he did.. he shouldn't rock the boat. As for laying the charge after the fact.. I know it can be done, but i'm not sure for how long if there is a limit.
 
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first off - I wouldn't post this stuff online on a public forum...

secondly.. you got off on the M1 infraction.. i would pay up and hope this goes away.

as for your insurance you can always "play dumb" and not mention it. if they dont pull your driver abstract regularly they may never see the points on your license
 
He wasn't ticketed for the legitimate charge. He was ticketed for running a stop sign that may/may not have been obstructed.

If cops didn't write so many bs tickets there wouldn't be so much backlog costing us taxpayers all this money. I still say fight it. What have you got to lose?

What's really wrong with this country is the 'guilty until proven innocent' laws like hta172.
 
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