Demerit Points in Ontario

This post will be about dispelling 4 myths surrounding the demerit point system for traffic offences in Ontario. But first, a brief explanation of the demerit point system is in order to ensure that we are all on the same page.

The Demerit Point System In Ontario

Certain offences under the Highway Traffic Act carry either 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 points. Some people say you “lose” these points off your licence, but actually a clean licence has zero points attached to it, so technically you “gain” points. The points are automatically assessed when you are convicted of an offence in court, not when you are charged. Demerit points stay on your driver’s licence history (a.k.a. driving abstract) for 2 years, while the record of conviction is generally visible to police for 3 years (read my post about that issue here)

Points For Novice Drivers

If you have a G1, G2, M1, or M2 Ontario driver’s licence and you accumulate between 2 and 5 points, you will be sent a warning letter from the MTO. If you accumulate between 6 points and 8 points you may be called in to attend an interview with the MTO and explain why you should be allowed to keep your licence. Your licence can be suspended if you do not attend the interview or if you fail the interview. At 9 points your licence will be suspended for 60 days, from the time that you surrender your licence, or 2 years if you fail to surrender your licence. In addition, it is an offence under s. 35(1)(b) of the Highway Traffic Act to be in possession of a suspended licence.

Points for Fully Licenced Drivers

For a fully licenced drivers the warning letter comes if you accumulate between 6 and 8 points, the interview for between 9 and 14 points, and the automatic suspension for 15+ points (for 30 days or 2 years).Now on to the myths.

Demerit Point Myths

Myth #1: If you take your ticket to court, the officer/prosecutor/judge can reduce or drop the points. Simon Says: Wrong! I don’t know how many times I’ve heard this, but it’s just not true. Demerit points are administratively dealt with by the MTO after a conviction has been registered. No one, including a judge, has the authority to affect the way demerit points are assessed.

That being said, you can sometimes make an arrangement with the prosecutor to plead guilty to a different (lesser) offence, which carries fewer points. You often see this with speeding charges, where the prosecutor will allow you to plead to a lesser speed which carries fewer points, but it can be done with other charges as well, such as Careless Driving reduced to Follow to Closely.

Myth #2 involves how the points associated with multiple charges arising from a single incident are applied. For example, if you get charged and convicted of Careless Driving (6 points), Failing to Remain at the Scene of a Collision (7 points) and Failing to Properly Wear a Seatbelt (2 points), even if you had a clean record before this you should be getting 15 points and you’d be looking at an automatic suspension , right? Simon Says: Wrong again!

If multiple convictions arise out of the same set of circumstances then you are only assessed the points associated with the single largest ticket. So in my example above, you’d actually only get 7 points and not 15.

Myth #3 involves how points are assessed when a suspension of the driver’s licence (for length of time) is part of the sentence in court. Let’s take my example above of the person who gets convicted of Careless (6 points), Fail to Remain (7 points), and Seatbelt (2 points), but also Driving While Under Suspension (this actually has no points), and as part of the penalty, the Justice of the Peace imposes the mandatory 6 month suspension of the licence. Would that person still be looking at 7 points as I discussed above? Nope!

If a suspension is imposed part of the sentence, no points are assessed against the person’s licence. Obviously you could use this to your advantage if you were negotiating with the prosecutor for a plea bargain and you wanted to avoid the points, but I wouldn’t recommend doing so without consulting a lawyer or paralegal and making sure you’re aware of all of the possible ripple effects. For one thing, you’d then have to report on an insurance application that you’ve had your driver’s licence suspended and they don’t look too favourably on that. For another, points aren’t everything, as I will discuss in Myth #4.

Myth #4: If I avoid the points my insurance rates won’t go up. Simon Says: Very wrong! Insurance companies don’t classify offences by points, they classify them by seriousness and put them into categories like Minor, Major, and Serious. True, the more serious offences generally do have higher points associated with them, but it’s not the points that the insurance company cares about, it’s the seriousness of the offence and what that says about the risk to insure you.

Serious offences (such as Careless or Fail to Remain) are going to be classified as Major or Serious regardless of whether the MTO assesss points against your licence for them. Remember, points is an administrative action by the MTO. The only people who care about points are the MTO and you (if you get too many). Your insurance company isn’t going to reclassify a Fail to Remain charge from Serious to Minor just because your licence got suspended and you didn’t get the points.

Conclusion

In my experience, demerit points are a very confusing issue for most people faced with a traffic ticket that carries points. I sincerely hope this has educated you about the way the demerit point system works in Ontario and that it allows you to make more informed choices if you have to deal with one of these ticket. Please feel free to share this article with others.

 

About the author: Simon Borys is a former police officer who is currently studying law at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario to become a criminal lawyer.

About the author: Simon Borys is a former police officer who is currently studying law at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario to become a criminal defence lawyer.

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Tags: criminal lawyer, defence, Demerit Points, Driver's Licence, Former Police Officer, Kingston, Law Student, Simon Borys, Suspended, Traffic Ticket

Posted in Police Myths