Delaying the court date is beneficial to the driver because:

• insurance cannot assess the charge until after the final court date
• the trial date maybe after the insurance renewal, saving a years premiums
• demerit points subtract the time taken for a court date to arrive
• the court system has a time limit

The longer the case takes to come to trial the higher chance of the case being dropped or reduced.

You can delay and reduce the amount of time demerit points go on the driving record by applying for a court date and fighting the speeding ticket.

Do not agree to first attendance or meetings with the prosecutor.

If the driver applies for a court date, convictions and any demerit points are not registered until after the trial.

The time it takes for the ticket to come to court is subtracted from the two years that demerit points are on a driving abstract.

For example, if you receive a ticket in January and the case does not come to trial until October, the demerit points for the speeding ticket would not be applied to the driving record until after the October court date.

The demerit points would only be on the driving abstract for 14 months, instead of 2 years (2 years minus the 10 months it took for the ticket to come to court).

Also, when you fight your speeding ticket, the insurance company will not learn of the conviction until after any court date.

So if the driver received the speeding ticket in January, and their insurance renewed in March, but the court date wasn’t until October the conviction could be kept off the driving and insurance record until the following renewal in the next year.

Subsequently, the driver would save any insurance increase for one year.

Always fight your speeding ticket!

Demerit points stay on your licence for two years from the date of the offence.

The conviction stays on the licence for one extra year. Demerit points are accumulated, not lost.

If the driver pleads guilty to the speeding ticket shortly after receiving the ticket, the conviction and demerit points will go on the record as of the date of the conviction.