Careless Driving Charges in Ontario

Civitas Law is a team of legal professionals under the leadership of lawyer Nasibeh Mehrpouyan, defending drivers charged with careless driving in Toronto and across the GTA, in English, French, Farsi, Russian and Serbian. Careless driving is the charge police reach for after a collision, often without having seen the driving, and the charge prosecutors offer as a plea from stunt driving and sometimes from criminal dangerous driving. Like every other Highway Traffic Act charge it is tried in Provincial Offences Court under the Provincial Offences Act, but the insurance and licence consequences follow you for years, which is why a lawyer's work on it pays off.

Section 130 makes it an offence to drive on a highway without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway. The test is objective: did your driving fall below the standard of a reasonably prudent driver in the same circumstances, given the road, weather and traffic at the time?

Two things follow. First, the Crown does not have to prove you meant to drive badly or knew you were; a lapse of attention can be enough. Second, a collision by itself proves nothing. People crash because of mechanical failure, a sudden medical event or another driver's error, and none of that is careless driving. Careless driving is a strict liability offence, so showing you took all reasonable care, or acted on a reasonable mistake of fact, is a complete defence.

Since 2018 the Act has had a separate and much heavier offence in section 130(3): careless driving that causes bodily harm or death. Bodily harm means any hurt or injury that interferes with health or comfort and is more than trifling, so a concussion or whiplash that needs treatment can qualify.

The elements are the same careless driving, plus proof that the driving caused the injury or death. The penalties move into a different class: a minimum fine many times higher than the basic offence and a maximum in the tens of thousands of dollars, a jail term of up to two years, a licence suspension that can run for years and six demerit points. They are served by summons, prosecuted with reconstruction evidence and often run alongside a civil lawsuit. Those charged are usually ordinary drivers who made one mistake with a terrible result, and the sentencing hearing matters as much as the trial. This is a case for a criminal defence lawyer, not a ticket office.

The two charges can arise from the same driving, and the difference changes everything.

• Statute. Careless driving is section 130 of the Highway Traffic Act, a provincial offence. Dangerous driving, which the Code now calls dangerous operation, is section 320.13 of the Criminal Code, a criminal offence.
• The standard. Careless driving is driving that falls below the standard of a reasonably careful driver. Dangerous driving requires a marked departure from that standard, in a manner dangerous to the public, well beyond mere carelessness.
• Court. Careless driving is tried in Provincial Offences Court before a justice of the peace. Dangerous driving is tried in the Ontario Court of Justice or the Superior Court of Justice.
• Record. A careless driving conviction goes on your driving record only. A dangerous driving conviction creates a criminal record, with consequences for work, travel and immigration.
• Penalty. Careless driving brings a fine, points, a possible suspension and, rarely, jail. Dangerous driving brings a possible jail term that rises steeply where someone is hurt or killed, and a driving prohibition.

Because the gap is so wide, a dangerous driving charge is often resolved by a plea to careless driving. That is a real result, and one reason both charges should be handled by the same lawyer.

• Fine. For basic careless driving the fine falls within a range set by the Act, from several hundred dollars to a few thousand, plus the victim fine surcharge and costs.
• Jail and suspension. The Act allows a jail term of up to six months and a licence suspension of up to two years for basic careless driving. Jail is rare without aggravating facts, but a suspension is a live risk after a collision or with a poor record.
• Demerit points. Six points, on your record for two years from the offence date. For a novice G1 or G2 driver, six points alone trigger the escalating sanctions program and a suspension.
• Insurance. Insurers rate careless driving as a serious conviction, in the same group as impaired driving. Premiums rise sharply and stay high for years, and some insurers decline to renew, which means the high-risk market. After a collision an at-fault accident is recorded as well. A plea that avoids the careless driving conviction, even one that still carries points, can save far more than the fine.

Most careless driving charges in Toronto are laid after a collision the officer did not witness. The officer arrives after the fact, speaks to the drivers and witnesses and charges the driver who seems responsible. That is a legitimate way to lay a charge, but it leaves the Crown with a case built on other people's accounts and inference.

• Who saw what. The other driver has every reason to blame you, and witnesses often saw the crash, not the seconds before it. Their statements have to be tested in cross-examination.
• Your own words. What you said at the scene, in shock and wanting to help, may be the strongest evidence against you. You must report a collision and identify yourself; you do not have to explain how it happened.
• The physical evidence. Damage patterns, skid marks, road conditions and dashcam or camera video can support a different account from the one the officer accepted.
• Causation in injury cases. Where bodily harm is alleged, the Crown must link the injury to your driving rather than a pre-existing condition or the other driver's choices.

If you were charged after a collision, write down what you remember now, keep every photograph and preserve any video before it is overwritten.

Where the evidence supports the charge, the question becomes what it can be resolved to. Prosecutors regularly resolve careless driving to a lesser Highway Traffic Act offence that fits the facts, such as following too closely, an unsafe lane change, failing to signal, an improper turn or disobeying a sign. These carry fewer demerit points, no suspension and, critically, a minor rather than a serious insurance rating. Careless driving causing bodily harm is sometimes resolved to basic careless driving, which removes the risk of jail and a long suspension.

Where the evidence does not support the charge, we defend it. The common defences are that the driving met the standard of a reasonable driver in the circumstances, that the collision had another cause, that the Crown cannot prove how the vehicle was driven, that you exercised due diligence, and that the delay in getting to trial breached your Charter right to a trial within a reasonable time. We review the disclosure and any reconstruction report before advising whether to resolve or set a trial date.

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.