Professional Traffic Ticket Representation:

Question: What are the consequences in Ontario if I’m convicted of a major driving offence, and how can a paralegal help me reduce the impact on my insurance and demerit points?

Answer: If you’re convicted of a major driving offence in Ontario, you can face higher fines and court surcharges, more demerit points, and potentially licence suspension, and your insurance premiums can rise significantly for at least three years, especially if you have prior convictions or other charges that the Crown ties to your driving history.   Freed Legal Services helps drivers in Ontario review the charge, analyze your case-specific facts and defence options, challenge evidence and witness testimony where appropriate, and guide you through the paperwork and traffic court process so you can pursue the best possible outcome, including charge reduction, dismissal, or minimizing insurance and demerit impact with a strategic defence approach.   If you want to protect your driving record and reduce long-term consequences, call (800) 716-1897 for a quick consult.

Providing Strategic Defence Advocacy

When major charges occur, either alone or alongside other charges, concerns for the likelihood of soaring insurance rates arises, and when combined with previous convictions or additional infractions, concern for possible licence suspension due to demerit point accumulation, plus severe fines, also arise. A comprehensive professional evaluation of the facts, the potential outcomes, and the available defence strategies, is highly recommended.

Protecting Against Significant Consequences

Conviction for a major traffic offence typically results in substantial fines, mandatory surcharges, and significantly increased insurance premiums for a period of three years. If the driver has prior convictions, there may also be a risk of licence suspension, along with other potential penalties.

Factors Tending to Aggravate Penalties

The affects of conviction for a major driving offence can be significantly further aggravated:

• When a driver was previously convicted within the past three years on another charge;
• When a driver is on the cusp of having accumulated too many demerit points and this latest major charge now puts the driver at risk of a licence suspension, among other penalties; and
• When a driver is required to maintain a good driving record as a condition of employment.

Conclusion

Traffic tickets of the major charges type pose serious consequences involving substantial fines plus victim surcharges as well as demerit points that may be the straw that breaks the camel's back resulting in a license suspension.  Additionally, a major charge may result in substantially increased insurance rates including the potential for loss of access to standard insurance market and substitute placement into the highly priced Facility Association.

Accordingly, when charged with a major traffic ticket offence, hiring a professional who knows how to question witnesses, especially which questions to ask and which questions to avoid, and who knows the law, knows the paperwork processes and courtroom procedures, and knows how to make judicially persuasive arguments on the applicable legal principles, is highly important.