Statutes & Sections
This Traffic Safety Act section creates the offence of distracted driving by holding, viewing, or manipulating a cellular telephone or other communication device while driving.
What is s. 115.1, Traffic Safety Act, RSA 2000, c T-6
This 1978 Supreme Court of Canada decision establishes the three-tier framework distinguishing absolute liability, strict liability, and full mens rea offences; it remains the foundational authority for due-diligence defences.
What is R v Sault Ste. Marie, [1978] 2 SCR 1299
These three statutory factors, set out in the Use of Highway and Rules of the Road Regulation, govern the analysis under the offence of following too closely.
What are (a) speed and stopping distance; (b) traffic and foreseeability of stops; (c) road surface, weather, and grade
This Crown actor (not the police officer) is responsible for obtaining the Registrar's certificate that proves the suspension or licence status at trial.
Who is the prosecutor?
When the officer testifies that "dispatch told me the vehicle was speeding," the statement is admissible only for this purpose — not for the truth of its contents.
What is To explain the officer's subsequent actions (why the officer attended)
This Traffic Safety Act section makes the Registrar's certificate self-authenticating for use as evidence in court, foreclosing defence demands for an authenticating witness.
What is s. 5, Traffic Safety Act, RSA 2000, c T-6
This 2023 Alberta Court of Appeal decision is the leading authority on the fault element under TSA s. 115(2)(b), holding that careless driving is strict liability and that inadvertent negligence is sufficient.
What is R v Mooney, 2023 ABCA 144
These three pre-shift testing protocols must be established by the Crown to lay the reliability foundation for a moving RADAR speed measurement.
What are (1) internal self-test; (2) tuning fork test; (3) patrol speed verification
This is the standard for authentication of real evidence — including photographs and video — set by the Alberta Court of Appeal in 2015; proof of non-alteration is not required unless put in issue.
What is "Substantially accurate" (R v Bulldog, 2015 ABCA 251 at paras 32-33, 40)
Charter applications cannot be heard by Justices of the Peace in Alberta because they are this kind of justice, with limited statutory jurisdiction that excludes constitutional remedies.
What are statutory justices of limited jurisdiction
This Traffic Safety Act section is the seizure authority police rely on when removing the airbag control module from a vehicle for forensic imaging by a collision reconstructionist.
What is s. 66, Traffic Safety Act, RSA 2000, c T-6
This 1986 Supreme Court of Canada decision is the foundational authority for amendments - Lamer J. held that the trial judge should have considered amending the information of the court's own motion, with the only question being whether prejudice could be cured.
R v Morozuk, [1986] 1 SCR 31
For the offence of careless driving under TSA s. 115(2)(b), this is the level of fault the Crown must prove post-Mooney 2023: anything less is insufficient, anything more is unnecessary.
What is Inadvertent negligence (mere/civil departure from the standard of care)
This six-step procedure must be followed when a witness's memory needs to be refreshed at trial — foundation, present the document, witness reads silently, take it back, re-ask. The notes themselves do not become evidence.
What is Memory refreshing (refreshing memory using a prior recording)
This Provincial Offences Procedure Act section governs the quashing of tickets returnable on non-sitting days - the defect is apparent on the face of the document.
What is s. 23.02, Provincial Offences Procedure Act, RSA 2000, c P-34
This Provincial Offences Procedure Act section is the court's amendment power; the prejudice test mirrors Criminal Code s. 601.
What is s. 23.01, Provincial Offences Procedure Act, RSA 2000, c P-34
This 1990 Supreme Court of Canada decision is the irreparable-prejudice case - the accused had testified and made admissions based on how the charge was particularized; once they testified, they could not undo it.
R v Saunders, [1990] 1 SCR 1020
For careless driving prosecutions, this is the critical evidentiary requirement the Crown must satisfy beyond merely the fact of a collision - the principle articulated in R v Mooney, 2023 ABCA 144 at para 33 and R v Steinke, 2018 ABPC 128 at para 11.
What is The actus reus must be established beyond the fact of the accident itself
When memory cannot be refreshed, this higher-foundation procedure may apply — a hearsay exception that lets the document itself be read into evidence (and possibly admitted) for the truth of its contents.
What is past recollection recorded
When the Crown seeks an amendment and the defence claims surprise, this is the standard remedy - it cures the prejudice and means the amendment is therefore not irreparable.
What is an adjournment.
This Provincial Offences Procedure Act section, as amended in 2024, governs the reception in POPA proceedings of electronic records - including printouts of electronic Registrar's certificates.
What is s. 23.6, Provincial Offences Procedure Act, RSA 2000, c P-34
This 1893 House of Lords case established the rule that if you intend to contradict a witness's evidence, you must put your contradicting version to the witness during cross-examination - failure may result in adverse inference.
Browne v Dunn (1893), 6 R 67 (HL)
This rule limits stranger eyewitness identification: identification based on a brief encounter between strangers will rarely support a conviction without additional supporting evidence.
What is The fleeting encounter (or fleeting glance) rule
When the trial judge compares the in-court accused to a still or moving image to confirm identity, the case law calls this — after a 1996 SCC decision authorizing it.
What is Nikolovski identification (R v Nikolovski, [1996] 3 SCR 1197)
This is the regulation citation of the Constitutional Notice Regulation, made under the Judicature Act, governing notice and transfer for Charter applications.
What is AR 102/1999