I was carpooling from Quebec city to Montreal. Just as we took the exit off the highway and we were entering Montreal we stopped at a traffic signal. There was a french cop standing in the corner. He spotted me not wearing my seat belt in the back row. He rushed to our car and asked the driver something in french. Then he took my ID, and came back after 2 minutes with a ticket, $120.
I felt terribly bad for violating this law, and my weekend Quebec trip was spoiled by this ticket. I took the carshare just to save some money, and now ended up with a bill of $120. The cop said I got 30 days to pay, or six months to challenge the ticket then appear before the court.
I am a new PR hence don't want to jeopardize my PR status. Again $120 is little too much for me. What is your advice- Should I pay the ticket now and forget the incident, or should I challenge the ticket and appear before the court? If I go to the court will it hurt my residency status?
Will this incident remain on my driving history (although I was not driving) forever and hurt my insurance premium in future when I own a car?
thanks
I felt terribly bad for violating this law, and my weekend Quebec trip was spoiled by this ticket. I took the carshare just to save some money, and now ended up with a bill of $120. The cop said I got 30 days to pay, or six months to challenge the ticket then appear before the court.
I am a new PR hence don't want to jeopardize my PR status. Again $120 is little too much for me. What is your advice- Should I pay the ticket now and forget the incident, or should I challenge the ticket and appear before the court? If I go to the court will it hurt my residency status?
Will this incident remain on my driving history (although I was not driving) forever and hurt my insurance premium in future when I own a car?
thanks