A High River, Alta. man has won his fight over a $155 ticket he received for using his high beams on an oncoming sheriff’s vehicle.
The justice of the peace hearing Jeff McLenaghan’s case in Okotoks on Monday said that based in part on his dashcam video, the accused made an honest mistake when it came to flashing his high beams.
It was back in November that McLenaghan was driving in High River when he saw a car coming towards him with very bright lights, which he thought were high beams.
McLenaghan said he flashed his high beams as a courtesy. As it turns out, it was a sheriff’s vehicle driving towards him. The sheriff turned around and gave him a ticket for failing to use low-beam headlights when an oncoming vehicle is within 300 metres.
READ MORE: Alberta driver fined after flashing high beams at sheriff’s car
Both McLenaghan and his lawyer say this case also brought up the issue of new sheriff vehicles having bright lights.
“Given that the officer’s video camera footage displayed obviously that Mr. McLenaghan had used his brights, I think it was important to show that the officer’s vehicle also had headlamps that could easily be mistaken for brights,” lawyer Peter Watkinson said outside the Okotoks courthouse on Monday.
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“Eventually, combined with his own admission that this has been a systemic issue within his own unit, it was pretty clear-cut that an honest mistake could have been made.”
READ MORE: Alberta man going to trial to fight ticket for flashing high beams at sheriff
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McLenaghan said he was satisfied with the ruling.
“What I thought was interesting was that the officer, under his own admission with the information he was giving about his vehicles, (said) that this has been an ongoing issue with this type of vehicle — that the lights are bright and people have high beamed them before,” McLenaghan said.
“I think more people should do this. And they don’t do things about it or they just roll over and submit. There are times when you have to pay the bill, but in this case I felt it wasn’t warranted. It was excessive.”
Watkinson said the dashcam video played a significant role in this case.
“What I would suggest rather than everybody taking up this defence automatically would be perhaps to install dashcams in their automobiles as it provides fantastic unbiased and objective record that can be used in cases in the future,” Watkinson said.
In a statement to Global News, Alberta Justice and Solicitor General said “sheriff vehicles come from the factory equipped with the same headlights installed in the same make/model that is sold to the public.”
“The Alberta Sheriffs don’t use after-market headlights on any of their vehicles… We’re currently not aware of any complaints from the public about the intensity of the headlights on sheriffs’ vehicles.”
Back in January, the Crown had offered to reduce McLenaghan’s ticket from $155 to $115 but he decided to plead not guilty. His lawyer took on this case for free.
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