Speeding ticket quashed after driver argues he only sped to pass someone - Action News
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British Columbia

Speeding ticket quashed after driver argues he only sped to pass someone

A driver who was busted going 31 km/h over the speed limit in Delta, B.C., has successfully fought his conviction. His argument: he only hit the gas to merge ahead of someone else driving erratically.

Tejveer Parmar was going 81 km/h in a 50 km/h zone when police stopped him

Delta police pulled over a driver on Kittson Parkway for speeding on May 9, 2018. The traffic court conviction has now been quashed. (Delta Police Department)

A driver who was ticketedfor speeding down a forested parkway in Delta, B.C., has successfully fought his conviction after arguing he had to break the speed limit so he could get away from someone else driving erratically.

Police stopped Tejveer Parmarafter clocking his speed at 81 km/h on Kittson Parkway just after 1 p.m. on May 9, 2018. The speed limit on the wide road is 50 km/h, though court documents said drivers "routinely" speed down the stretch.

Parmar was later convictedin traffic court, but fought the case in the higherB.C. Supreme Court claiming theJudicial Justice of the Peace (JJP) who convicted him didn't listen to his explanation of why he did what he did.

During a hearing in Vancouver nearly a yearafter he was first ticketed, Parmarsaid he'd sped up to merge ahead of another car who'd been "causing him trouble" ahead of the merge pointwhere two lanes join into one.

Kittson Parkway in Delta, B.C., is bordered by Watershed Park to the south and residential neighbourhoods to the north. (Google Streetview)

He said the other driver had been swerving between lanes and braking in front of him.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Murray accepted Parmar's defence of necessity.

"He believed that to slow down to let the other car merge in front of him was not a safe option as the other car was being driven so erratically," Murray wrote in her reasons for judgment on May 16.

The justice also found the original JJP"interrupted Mr. Parmar continually throughout his evidence" during the traffic court hearing.

"The JJP failed to consider the defence proffered by Mr. Parmar, namely that he had sped up in order to drive safely," Murray said.

For that reason, Murray quashed the conviction and Parmar was acquitted.