A Wellington County man has lost a bizarre appeal of a $238 speeding ticket that he claimed was a violation of his human rights.
In his unusual and occasionally amusing written decision, Court of Appeal Justice Michael David McArthur quoted 18th century British poet Alexander Pope in upholding the conviction and said the convicted man’s arguments descended into “gibberish and foolishness.”
“’A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.’ These words of Alexander Pope might again serve us well to be recalled in this case and perhaps in these times when a reminder or restatement of the law appears to be required,” wrote Justice McArthur.
Gary Freer was driving a 2005 Volkswagen Passat with his wife in the passenger seat on Highway 89, just outside Minto, around 10 a.m. on Sept. 8, 2016, when he was clocked doing 114 km/h in an 80 km/h zone by a marked OPP cruiser.
Freer challenged the ticket, representing himself. He was convicted last March.
The guilty party argued:
- That a licence “does not mean anything on the highway,”
- The Highway Traffic Act applies only to commercial vehicles.
- Being stopped by the police put Freer “in servitude” which is contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“In this case the presiding Justice of the Peace had, on some prior occasion, encountered the appellant in an earlier proceeding and fortunately was able to focus this case on its merits and avoid straying into irrelevant areas and black holes of irrational thought.,” the appeal judge wrote.
At one point in the original trial, Freer announced “I am presenting myself today” and “I am a human being,” which the appeals judge commented was “penetratingly obvious.”
“One may have desired that the case cut-to-the-chase, so to speak,” Justice McArthur wrote. “It was not to be.”
During the original two-day trial, Freer also said he had a witness to call, but was saving them for the appeal hearing.
“Such an indication may have had a cliff-hanger effect that one would hope find its way onto the appeal stage as indicated by the appellant. This was also not to be,” the appeal judge wrote.
Justice McArthur rejected the appeal and ordered Freer to pay the ticket.
