Drivers fighting tickets in Winnipeg forced to wait until 2017

WINNIPEG — Provincial traffic courts have grown so busy with drivers fighting photo radar tickets, trials for offenses that occurred within the last month, are now being set for 2017.

Len Eastoe with Traffic Tickets Experts says the problem is enforcement has increased but staffing within the courts has not.

“It’s just slowly gotten worse and worse with the delays, because more people are fighting those tickets,” Eastoe said.

Manitoba Justice agrees there is a backlog, but disagrees it has anything to do with staffing.  Shauna Curtin is the assistant deputy minister of courts and says part of the problem is that more people are going to trial, because there are now increased penalties or demerits associated with violations like driving while on the cell phone.

“That is an incentive for people to argue if they think there is any unfairness at all,” Curtin said.

But in a statement a justice spokesperson added  “It’s also important to recognize that many tickets are related to safety issues that pose a potential danger to drivers and pedestrians, like speeding in construction or school zones, or distracted driving.”

The justice department also said they are working to streamline the process.  By the end of the year the province hopes to enact a modernized Provincial Offenses Act.  It would include changes, like police officers no longer having to go to court for photo radar trials.

“They will be able to provide the evidence that they provide today, verbally, on a certificate,” Curtin said.

Global News spoke to Joseph Maendel outside the provincial courts on Broadway and says he wanted to fight his speeding ticket but the delays were too much.

“That costs too,” Maendel said.