From a woman’s perspective, the point system has always been a way of how to evaluate a relationship. If he makes the bed, he gets two points, buys flowers . . . four points. If he stays out all night with his buddies . . . minus 100 points!
But when it comes to driving, getting points are a bad thing.
It’s a common belief that a driver loses demerit points for traffic convictions, when in fact you begin with zero points, and accumulate them with driving infractions.
Demerit points are assigned by the Ministry Of Transportation and determine whether or not your driver's licence should be suspended or not renewed.
The number of demerit points associated with a particular offence varies from province to province. If you get a ticket in a province you don’t reside in, the conviction will more than likely show up on your Motor Vehicle Report carrying the number of demerit points that province has assigned to it.
For example in Manitoba, failing to stop at the scene of an accident would cost you 15 demerit points, but only seven in Alberta.
Here’s a sample of Ontario’s Demerit Point System
7 Points
- Failing to remain at the scene of a collision
- Failing to stop when signalled/requested by a police officer
6 Points
- Careless Driving
- Exceeding the speed limit by 50 km/h or more
- Racing
- Failing to stop for a school bus
5 Points
- Driver of a bus failing to stop at an unprotected railway crossing
4 Points
- Exceeding the speed limit by 30 to 49 km/h
- Following too closely
3 Points
- Exceeding the speed limit by 16 to 29 km/h
- Failing to yield the right-of-way
- Failing to obey the directions of a police officer
- Failing to report a collision to a police officer
- Crowding the driver's seat
- Driving or operating a vehicle on a closed road
- Driving through, around or under a railway crossing barrier
- Failing to obey a stop sign, traffic light or railway crossing signal
- Driving the wrong way on a divided road
- Improper driving when road is divided into lanes
- Going the wrong way on a one-way road
- Crossing a divided road where no proper crossing is provided
2 Points
- Improper opening of a vehicle door
- Towing people - on toboggans, bicycles, skis, etc.
- Failing to stop at a pedestrian crossing
- Improper right turn
- Failing to signal
- Reversing on a divided high-speed road
- Driver failing to ensure that a passenger less than 23 kg is properly secured
- Prohibited turns
- Failing to obey signs
- Failing to share the road
- Improper left turn
- Unnecessary slow driving
- Driver failing to wear a seat belt
- Driver failing to ensure that a passenger under 16 years is wearing a seat belt
(Resource: For information about other provinces go to: www.pointts.com/demeritpoints.html)
Generally speaking, if a fully licensed driver accumulates 15 demerit points, their driver’s licence will be suspended, whereas the limit for probationary drivers is six demerit points. Nine demerit points is usually the point where the Ministry of transportation will invite the driver to their office to have a conversation about why their licence should not be suspended.
At 15 demerit points the Ministry of transportation can suspend the driver’s licence for 30 days for the first time, and up to six months for any subsequent accumulation of demerit points. Failure to surrender your license when asked to do so may lead to an additional two year suspension.
Insurance companies don’t increase your rate based on demerit points. A ticket is a ticket, regardless of whether or not it has demerit points. However, suspensions will affect your insurance rate.
Tickets can affect your insurance rate up to 3 years, whereas demerit points stay on your record for up to 2 years. (Or about as long as she’ll continue to make you suffer for staying out all night.)
Soon tickets will be going high-tech. The black stripe on the back of your driver’s licence will provide the information that the officer needs to help eliminate human error and prevent many more traffic tickets from being thrown out of court on technicalities.
The ticket goes through many hands before it gets in front of a judge, that there are several opportunities for things to go wrong. For example, an officer might write down the wrong date or fine amount, or his writing may be illegible. There's also a chance that the ticket may get sent to the wrong court, or a court clerk may make a mistake while copying the information.
The high-tech system will reduce the opportunity for error at every level and automatically send the offence data to the right court.
When a driver is pulled over, the police officer will simply scan the person's licence and enter in the offence. The system will automatically fill out an electronic ticket.
In fact it’ll be so quick that you'll be back on the road in no time, to be caught speeding again. When it comes to demerit points, driving a vehicle is the opposite of a relationship: the fewer the points, the better.
