Court Date

Monday, June 6, 2009 was the court date for the accident - or rather, for my appeal of the ticket I got because of the car accident. I was very nervous about the whole thing and started freaking out about it at the end of last week as I couldn't get a hold of the man who was going to help me with the trial. Eventually we connected and I told him I wanted his assistance on the day of the trial, for a fee as expected. We discussed what was going to happen and I continued to wait.

This past weekend was a disaster in terms of my stress levels. Whenever I wasn't sleeping, making a meal or playing some kind of video game, I was worrying and fretting about the trial. I had never been a part of a trial and had no idea what to expect. I would dream of important meetings/events and either screwing them up or missing them all together. It was very unpleasant. I spent the morning worrying even more and deciding what I was going to say when it came time to speak. The trial was at 1:30 and I was there at almost exactly 1. Paul, the man who was helping me, showed up about 5 minutes after me and we discussed a few options I had such as taking a by-law fine rather than a Highway Traffic Act (HTA) charge. As we spoke, the man who hit me showed up and we eventually followed him into the actual courtroom.
It was like a combination of a tiny courtroom and a tiny church. I say church because the seats were like pews in a church and the atmosphere made me just as uncomfortable as a church.
The witness to the accident, who was behind me when I was hit, also showed up and of course the police officer was there. The whole thing was very unnerving and I was very glad I had decided to get Paul's help. He spoke with the prosecutor after which he and I made what I consider a very wise decision to take the by-law fine. Nothing is attached to my license and there is only a small monetary fine that I have no real problem with.
I am really happy with the outcome of the trial, that in total took about half an hour, two minutes of which were the actual trial. I can now put the whole thing behind me and get on with things.