Hearsay Evidence & Speeding Tickets

Hearsay evidence as a general rule of Canadian law is not admissible in court.

Simply put, hearsay evidence is trying to tell the court something that someone told you.

This type of evidence is not admissible because the person who made the statement is not in court to be challenged on the statement or the statement may simply not be true.

Hearsay evidence is an oral or written statement that was made by someone other than the person testifying in court.

Hearsay evidence occurs when the statement or evidence happened outside of the court and a witness testifying in court attempts to repeat the evidence before the court.

As a general rule, hearsay evidence is not admissible in a speeding ticket trial. A driver cannot say what someone else told them, that person must come to court to testify.

E.g. The driver could not say that their passenger told them that they saw the speed limit sign on the street and as a result of that information they drove at the stated speed.