Stunt Driving Charges in Ontario

Civitas Law is a team of legal professionals under the leadership of lawyer Nasibeh Mehrpouyan, defending drivers charged with stunt driving in Toronto and across the GTA, in English, French, Farsi, Russian and Serbian. Stunt driving is tried in Provincial Offences Court under the Provincial Offences Act, like every other Highway Traffic Act charge, but it is served as a summons rather than a ticket and the stakes are closer to a criminal case: your licence, your car, your insurance and often your job.

Section 172 and its regulation list what counts as stunt driving or racing. The speed branch is the one most people are charged under.

• Speed. Forty kilometres an hour or more over the limit on a road posted at less than eighty, fifty or more over anywhere else, or one hundred and fifty kilometres an hour or more regardless of the limit.
• Racing and contests. Two or more vehicles driven together at speeds that are a marked departure from the lawful speed, or any driving as part of a race, contest or bet.
• Manner of driving. Driving in a way that shows an intention to lift the tires off the road, lose traction and drift, or spin the vehicle, or driving with a person in the trunk or without the driver in the seat.
• Interfering with others. Driving as close as possible to another vehicle, pedestrian or object, or stopping or slowing to block another vehicle.

A single number on a radar display is enough for the speed branch. The Crown need not show racing or showing off, so a driver who was simply late faces the same charge as a street racer.

The consequences begin at the side of the road, before any court has looked at the evidence.

• Licence suspension. The officer takes your licence on the spot and it is suspended for a month. You cannot drive home, and driving during the suspension is a separate and serious charge.
• Vehicle impound. The vehicle is towed and held for two weeks, with towing and storage charged to the owner. The impound applies whether or not you own the car, so a borrowed car, a rental, a parent's vehicle or an employer's truck is towed just the same.
• Summons. You receive a Part III summons with a first court date rather than a ticket with a set fine.

These measures are administrative: they happen whether or not you are later convicted, and a not guilty finding does not undo them.

If convicted, the justice of the peace must sentence within the range the Act sets, and it is wide.

• Fine. The minimum is in the thousands of dollars and the maximum several times that, plus the victim fine surcharge and costs.
• Jail. A jail term is available, though it is unusual for a first offence with no collision.
• Demerit points. Six points, which alone can trigger a Ministry interview and, for novice drivers, a separate suspension.
• Licence suspension. A first conviction carries a further suspension of one to three years, set by the court, on top of the roadside month. Later convictions carry suspensions measured in many years, and a lifetime suspension is possible.
• Insurance. Insurers treat stunt driving as a serious conviction: premiums rise sharply for years and some insurers decline to renew, pushing you into the high-risk market.

Because a conviction brings a suspension of at least a year, the realistic goals are an acquittal or a resolution to a charge that does not carry one.

No. Stunt driving is an offence under a provincial statute, prosecuted under the Provincial Offences Act and tried in Provincial Offences Court. A conviction goes on your Ontario driving record, not a criminal record, and does not appear in a police record check or affect immigration status on its own.

The same driving can also be charged under the Criminal Code as dangerous driving (s. 320.13), flight from police (s. 320.17) or, where alcohol or drugs were involved, impaired driving. Those charges carry a criminal record and a driving prohibition. Police tend to lay them when the speed was extreme, there was a collision or the driver failed to stop. When both arise from one incident they must be handled together, because a guilty plea on one can be used against you on the other.

Yes, often. The prosecutor has discretion to resolve a stunt driving charge to a lesser Highway Traffic Act offence, and the two usual destinations are speeding under section 128 at a reduced speed and careless driving under section 130.

Neither is a free pass. Careless driving still carries six demerit points, a fine, a possible suspension and a serious insurance rating. Speeding at a lower recorded speed carries fewer points, no mandatory suspension and a much lighter insurance consequence, so it is usually the better outcome and the one prosecutors offer least readily. What is offered depends on the recorded speed, your record, any collision and the strength of the evidence. On a first offence with a clean record a resolution is the normal outcome, but we review the disclosure first so that any offer is measured against the real chance of winning at trial.

• Speed measurement. Radar and lidar readings depend on a trained operator, a device tested before and after the shift, a clear line of sight and a proper tracking history. Readings taken while the cruiser was moving, through traffic or at long range are open to challenge.
• The officer's evidence. The notes, the summons and the testimony have to line up on the location, the posted limit, the speed and the identity of the driver. Gaps and contradictions can leave a reasonable doubt.
• The posted limit. Whether the limit the officer relied on was in force and properly posted at that point, which matters most where the limit changes.
• Intention branches. For drifting, wheelies and similar allegations the Crown must prove the required intention, and a skid, a wet road or a mechanical fault can explain what the officer saw.
• Necessity. A real emergency, such as rushing someone to hospital, is a recognized defence in rare cases, but it requires an imminent peril and no reasonable legal alternative.
• Charter and delay. Unreasonable delay in reaching trial, and sometimes the conduct of the stop, can lead to a stay or the exclusion of evidence.

Novice drivers on a G1 or G2 licence are hit twice. The stunt driving conviction brings the same fine, points and court suspension as for a fully licensed driver. The Ministry of Transportation runs a separate escalating sanctions program for novice drivers: a first conviction carrying enough demerit points brings a suspension, a second brings a longer one, and a third cancels the licence and sends the driver back to the start of the graduated licensing system. A stunt driving conviction, with six points, triggers it on its own.

For young drivers the insurance consequence is harsher still, because premiums are already high and a serious conviction can make coverage hard to find. Parents who own the car face the impound and often the insurance fallout. We treat a G2 stunt driving charge as a case to fight or resolve carefully, not a ticket to pay.

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.