ON Driver
Ontario adds demerit points to your driving record when you are convicted of breaking certain driving laws, and the rules are different for a new driver and for someone with a full licence (Understanding demerit points). You do not lose points from a starting total: you start at zero and gain them (Understanding demerit points).
Who counts as a new driver
You are a novice, or new, driver if you hold a G1, G2, M1, M2, M1-L or M2-L licence (Understanding demerit points).
How long points stay, and where they come from
Points stay on your record for two years from the offence date (Understanding demerit points). Ontario also adds points for the traffic offences it lists when you are convicted in other Canadian provinces and territories, or in the State of New York or the State of Michigan (Understanding demerit points).
What a given number of points costs a new driver
The page sets the consequences by how many points you have added (Understanding demerit points):
- 2 to 5 points: you get a warning letter (Understanding demerit points);
- 6 to 8 points: a second warning letter, encouraging you to improve your driving (Understanding demerit points);
- 9 or more points: your licence is suspended for 60 days (Understanding demerit points).
The penalties that get stiffer each time
Ontario's escalating penalties programme can suspend or cancel a novice licence on top of the points already on the record (Understanding demerit points). The page says escalating penalties can apply if you are convicted of breaking graduated licensing rules, convicted of a Highway Traffic Act offence that results in four or more demerit points, such as street racing or careless driving, or made subject to a court-ordered suspension for a Highway Traffic Act offence that would otherwise have resulted in four or more demerit points (Understanding demerit points).
The penalties themselves (Understanding demerit points):
- first offence: a 30-day licence suspension (Understanding demerit points);
- second offence: a 90-day suspension (Understanding demerit points);
- third offence: you lose your novice licence (Understanding demerit points), have to re-apply and start all over, take all the tests and pay all the fees again, and lose any time discount you earned, any time you were credited and any fees you have paid.
Surrendering the licence, and what comes after a suspension
You surrender a suspended licence in person at any ServiceOntario centre, or by mail to the Ministry of Transportation's Driver Control Section at 77 Wellesley Street West, Box 671, Toronto, Ontario, M7A 1N3; DriveTest centres cannot take it (Understanding demerit points).
After a suspension you may have to take the vision, written and road tests again (Understanding demerit points). If you pass, the licence is reinstated and the points on your record are reduced to 7 for a full licence or to 4 for a novice licence, and they still stay for two years (Understanding demerit points). New points added after that can bring you back for an interview, and reaching too many points again means another six-month suspension (Understanding demerit points).
What the common offences are worth
A few of the values the page lists (Understanding demerit points):
- 6 points: careless driving, racing, or failing to stop for a school bus (Understanding demerit points);
- 3 points: driving while holding or using a hand-held wireless communications or entertainment device, speeding 16 to 29 km/h over the limit, or failing to obey a stop sign or a traffic light (Understanding demerit points);
- 2 points: an improper right turn, an improper left turn, or failing to signal (Understanding demerit points).
The hand-held device offence is worth more on a repeat: if the offence is committed less than five years after an earlier conviction for a hand-held device or display screen offence, the record shows 6 points instead of 3 (O. Reg. 339/94). And for a novice, when a conviction worth four or more points also brings an escalating suspension or cancellation, that conviction adds no points to the record (O. Reg. 340/94).