R v Ruscitti

Her Majesty The Queen v. Dominic Ruscitti

Ontario Court (Provincial Division)
His Honour Judge L. Budzinski | April 2nd, 1993, Brampton, Ontario

Background

Dominic Ruscitti was charged under Section 182(2) of the Highway Traffic Act for disobeying a sign. The officer described a sign on page two of the transcript that read "No heavy trucks to be using that road unless they are—they have a permit or any access for that road for a purpose." The sign referenced Regulation 486 and included a diagram showing a commercial vehicle with a circle around it and a line through it. The officer testified that this was a large dump truck that wasn't permitted to be on that roadway, and he knew it wasn't supposed to be there.

The defence argued there was no proper definition of "heavy truck" in the Highway Traffic Act, making the sign too vague to enforce. The Crown prosecutor couldn't point to any specific penalty section or definition that would make this a proper offence under provincial law.

Issues

1. Does the Highway Traffic Act provide a clear definition of what constitutes a "heavy truck"?
2. Can a municipal bylaw create enforceable traffic signs without clear definitions in the governing provincial statute?

The Definition Problem

Judge Budzinski found that the Highway Traffic Act has no clear definition of "heavy truck." While the Act defines "commercial motor vehicle" as a motor vehicle having permanently attached thereto a truck or delivery body and includes ambulances, hearses, casket wagons, fire operators, buses and tractors used for hauling purposes on the highways, it doesn't specify what makes a truck "heavy." The judge noted that even Part 8 of the Highway Traffic Act, which deals with weights of vehicles, gives various definitions but "nothing to do with even a truck let alone a heavy truck as one can glean a definition."

The court found that without a proper definition in the provincial legislation, any municipal bylaw attempting to regulate "heavy trucks" lacks the necessary foundation. The judge stated: "Any sign that must conform to the regulations and every driver must obey that sign. It would be my respectful submission that this is the sign that is to be posted to support a bylaw and it is the bylaw that governs what weights—a bylaw could be passed for different weights and different vehicles to define what a heavy truck is on different roads."

Key Takeaway

Vague traffic signs that reference undefined terms cannot support valid convictions under the Highway Traffic Act.

If you're facing a charge for disobeying a traffic sign, examine whether the sign uses terms that are actually defined in the governing legislation. Courts cannot convict based on signs that reference concepts not properly defined in law, even if the officer's intentions were clear.