Not surprisingly, when (according to recent news media accounts) Eugene Rakchaev, an Ontario resident, while driving east of Regina in early September last year, saw the flashing lights of a stopped RCMP cruiser and an officer issuing a ticket to a motorist, he slowed down only slightly and continued on. Not far along, another police officer pulled over Mr. Rakchaev, told him he had been clocked at 108 km/hr and ticketed him ($382) for an infraction of section 204.

 

Mr. Rakchaev felt this was unjust. The Saskatchewan law was unknown to him. Apparently, none of the surrounding drivers had slowed down. As he saw it, he had been driving along safely and considerately and then, quite suddenly, been caught in a police trap. He had an unblemished driving record—over 20 years without a ticket— and felt “the way the officers were set up and doing things… had almost nothing to do with safety and everything to do with revenue.” This bothered him to the point where he felt “I had to make a stand. …You don't go over 20 years without a ticket by luck."

 

Accordingly, on November 6th, Mr. Rakchaev obtained a February 2008 trial date. In early January, however, Mr. Rakchaev received a letter from the RCMP advising him (incorrectly, as it turned out) that the court date had been adjourned to April 2.  Perceiving that this change disadvantaged him, and noting that there was, in fact, no court on April 2nd, Mr. Rakchaev decided to drive to Saskatchewan from Ontario and represent himself on the originally scheduled date.

 

After driving three days between storms—“sometimes going through areas either just before or just after 20 centimeters of snow had come down”— Mr. Rakchaev asked the court to either continue the case while he was present or dismiss it.  The judge dismissed the case because of misinformation in the RCMP’s letter and, taking into consideration the cost and inconvenience to Rakchaev in appearing, because the ticketing officer was not available.  As Mr. Rakchaev sees it, his win “on a technicality” was “fair enough” in the circumstances.

 

Media reports of this story focus on the disparity between the ticket cost and the time, money (over $2,000) and effort made by Rakchaev to fight it.  They celebrate the little guy who, believing in the due process of the legal system, successfully challenges a perceived injustice. Mr.Rakchaev’s belief in justice and the extraordinary efforts made by him to defend himself probably helped him in defeating the ticket on a technicality.

 

However, ignorance of a law is traditionally no defence. The bigger point is, wherever we drive, we are subject to the “local regulations”.