Traffic Ticket and Highway Traffic Act Lawyer in Toronto

Civitas Law is a team of legal professionals under the leadership of lawyer Nasibeh Mehrpouyan, defending drivers charged under the Highway Traffic Act in Toronto and across the GTA, in English, French, Farsi, Russian and Serbian. Traffic charges are regulatory offences, the general term for provincial and municipal charges that are not crimes. Most are handled by paralegal ticket offices; we take the ones where more is at stake than the fine: a licence suspension, a collision that hurt someone, a criminal charge laid at the same stop, or a driver whose job, insurance or status in Canada depends on the outcome.

• Speeding (s. 128). The fine and the demerit points climb with the speed. At fifty kilometres an hour or more over the limit, or forty over on a road posted under eighty, the same driving is charged as stunt driving instead.
• Careless driving (s. 130). Driving without due care and attention. It is the usual charge after a collision, and the version that causes bodily harm or death carries far heavier penalties. See our careless driving page.
• Stunt driving and racing (s. 172). Very high speed, racing, drifting and similar behaviour. The licence is suspended and the vehicle towed at the roadside before you see a courtroom.
• Driving while suspended (s. 53). Driving during an existing suspension, including one for unpaid fines you may not have known about. It carries a large fine, a further suspension and possible jail.
• Driving without insurance. Laid under the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act, not the Highway Traffic Act. The minimum fine for a first offence runs into the thousands of dollars and can be many times higher, with a possible licence suspension and vehicle impound.
• Distracted driving (s. 78.1). Holding or using a phone or other hand-held device. A conviction brings a fine, demerit points and a suspension that lengthens with each repeat.
• Other charges. Fail to remain (s. 200), fail to stop for police (s. 216), red light (s. 144), stop sign (s. 136) and breaches of novice driver conditions.

The Provincial Offences Act sets the process for every Highway Traffic Act charge. Most tickets are Part I certificates of offence: the officer hands you a ticket with a set fine and you have fifteen days to respond. More serious charges, including stunt driving, careless driving causing bodily harm and driving while suspended, come as a Part III summons with a court date and no set fine.

With a Part I ticket you have three choices: pay, which is a guilty plea and a conviction; ask for an early resolution meeting, where a prosecutor may offer a lesser charge or a reduced fine in exchange for a guilty plea; or ask for a trial. If you do nothing, you are deemed not to dispute the charge and convicted in your absence.

Once a trial is requested, you are entitled to disclosure: the officer's notes, device records, witness statements and any video. Many early resolution meetings and trials in Toronto's Provincial Offences Court now take place by video or phone.

Three things follow a conviction, and the fine is usually the smallest of them.

• Demerit points. Points go on your Ministry of Transportation record and stay there for two years from the offence date. As they build up the Ministry warns you, can call you to an interview and, past a threshold, suspends your licence. Novice drivers on a G1 or G2 face a stricter scheme: one conviction carrying enough points brings a suspension, and repeat convictions can cancel the licence.
• Licence suspensions. Some convictions carry their own suspension on top of the points, including stunt driving, careless driving, driving while suspended and repeat distracted driving.
• Insurance. Insurers rate convictions as minor, major or serious, and careless driving and stunt driving sit in the serious group. A serious conviction raises premiums for years, and some insurers decline to renew, which pushes drivers into the high-risk market. Points and conviction are separate: a plea that trades points for a different conviction may not help your insurance, so we weigh both before advising a resolution.

Licensed paralegals can appear in Provincial Offences Court, and for a simple speeding ticket a paralegal is often all you need. A lawyer earns the difference when the ticket is the smaller part of the problem.

• Your licence is at stake. Stunt driving, careless driving, driving while suspended and a point total near the threshold all put your ability to drive, and often your income, on the line.
• Someone was hurt. Careless driving causing bodily harm or death is prosecuted like a serious case, with reconstruction evidence and a real possibility of jail.
• There is a criminal charge too. The same stop often produces a dangerous driving, impaired driving, flight from police or driving while prohibited charge under the Criminal Code. A paralegal cannot act on the criminal charge; a lawyer runs both files together so that a plea on one does not damage the other.
• You drive for a living. Commercial drivers carry convictions onto the operator's record too, and an employer may act on one serious conviction.
• You are new to Canada or not a citizen. A Highway Traffic Act conviction on its own does not affect immigration status; the companion criminal charge can. Our team advises on both, with immigration colleagues in the same office.

Every case starts with disclosure, read against the certificate for gaps.

• The charge itself. A certificate must name the right offence, section and date. Some errors can be amended and some are fatal to the charge.
• Speed measurement. Radar and lidar devices must be tested before and after the shift by a trained officer, who must show a clear tracking history of your vehicle.
• The officer's evidence. Notes written long after the stop, gaps in the account, and identification of the driver when the vehicle was not stopped.
• Due diligence. Most Highway Traffic Act offences are strict liability, so showing that you took all reasonable care, or acted on a reasonable mistake of fact, is a full defence. Driving while suspended cases often turn on whether the notice of suspension was properly sent.
• Charter delay. The right to be tried within a reasonable time applies in Provincial Offences Court, and long delays can end a prosecution.
• Negotiation. Where the evidence is solid, we negotiate for a lesser offence with fewer points or no suspension.

It depends on what the ticket costs you beyond the fine. A minor speeding ticket with no demerit points and no insurance consequence may not be worth a day in court. A ticket that carries points, follows another conviction, threatens a novice licence or lands on a commercial record is different, because the insurance cost over the following years usually dwarfs the fine. We read the ticket and your record at the first consultation and tell you plainly whether a lawyer, a paralegal or simply paying is the sensible route.

Book a consultation online or call (647) 271-1646 (the phone is answered 24/7). 30-minute consultation, $150 plus HST, paid when you book. Legal fees after that depend on the work involved, and we explain them in writing before you retain us.