How many demerit points for careless driving? This is a question that is very commonly asked when someone is charged with careless driving. I think it’s important to note that demerit points are only a small part of what needs to be considered . For an individual like myself or anyone on my staff, their minds are going to be racing if anyone is approaching them or calling them with a careless driving charge, and certainly one of the questions to be answered for that client is how many demerit points?
The answer is a simple one, which is six. However, it is actually much more complicated than that. Careless driving in Ontario is rated among the one of the worst offenses that could go on to a driving abstract. When I say that it does in fact carry a significant number of points.
Six is a large number. Six is one of the largest numbers that you can ever accumulate under the Highway Traffic Act. Obviously on that note alone, we know that that’s serious. The impact of careless driving for a person going forward once there’s a conviction, once there’s a conviction, is that at some point in time they’re going to have to renegotiate their insurance, and renegotiation will be a difficult challenge for that person.
That being said. What the insurance company is going to look at is they look at careless driving in the same way they would look at dangerous driving under the criminal code or impaired driving. So the best way to think about that is it’s grouped in the same group of offenses with criminal offenses, and it’s considered serious and they’re going to charge you the most.
I can only guess every policy is different, but on average, you’re looking about five times whatever you paid per year now. If you are lucky enough to at once upon a time spend a thousand dollars to have liability insurance on your vehicle, you’ll now be looking at a policy of at least $6,000. It’s not unheard of to have a client tell me that they’re paying $12,000 a year now to stay on the road and, and therein lies the significance of this particular offense.
The good news is that at OTD Legal, we have a flawless record in defending people on this type of thing. It is relatively rare that we have a client go through our representation, and end up with the same thing. I would encourage you if you had something like this, not to represent yourself. Seek counsel, competent counsel that can help you with something so significant.
Please take a look at our website. You’ll note we have a free consultation. There’s no obligation. We’d like to talk to you. We probably can help you.