Traffic Tickets
Too Close for Comfort: Following Too Closely
At first glance, a following too closely ticket looks like small change. The fine printed on it is modest compared to the eye-watering numbers attached to charges like stunt driving or no insurance. That modest fine is exactly what lulls drivers into simply paying it and moving on. It is a costly misread. Behind that… Read More
Driving With No Insurance: The Ticket That Stings
Most traffic tickets sting the wallet for a few hundred dollars. A no insurance charge is in an entirely different league. With a mandatory minimum fine that starts in the thousands and can climb into the tens of thousands, driving without insurance carries some of the harshest financial penalties in Ontario’s provincial offences system. Worse,… Read More
No Officer in Court? Your Ticket Might Not Survive
It is one of the most repeated pieces of folk wisdom in Ontario driving culture: fight the ticket, because if the officer does not show up, the case gets thrown out. Like most folk wisdom, there is truth at the centre of it and a great deal of oversimplification around the edges. An absent officer… Read More
New Driver, Big Rules: G1 and G2 Violations Explained
Earning a first licence is a milestone, but in Ontario it comes with an asterisk. Drivers in the Graduated Licensing System operate under conditions that fully licensed drivers never think about, and the penalty framework for breaking those conditions is deliberately harsh. A mistake that costs an experienced driver a fine can cost a novice… Read More
School Zones Are Back. So Are the Tickets
The buses are rolling, the crossing guards are out, and the streets around every school in Ontario are once again full of small pedestrians who do not always look both ways. September changes the driving landscape overnight, and it also changes the enforcement landscape. Police services across the province concentrate on school zones when classes… Read More