Outstanding Canadian traffic tickets?

[Dame Karmen]

Sounds like a good idea to just pay any tickets when recieved and hang onto receipts that prove they were paid.

 

Anyone in here have any outstanding traffic tickets?

 

In my driving history I've only ever had parking tickets, from during work hours and parking in loading zones when delivering to stores, one or two tickets weren't even mine, I had hired a driver for a day and the driver got a couple, without a loading zone parking permit. I soon got a permit I was worried I might get arrested one day soon for not paying them so I pleasantly shocked the folks at city hall when I walked in one day, to enquire about the tickets and how much they would cost to clear up that day, and expected to pay a LOT due to outstanding penalties. They were so happy with me for coming in that they only smiled big and charged me a mere $40 (if I remember correctly) to clear up the whole lot of them that day. They wrote off the penalties and gave me a break, just impressed with my actions I guess, and THAT totally stunned me! I wonder if a big city would be so flexible? I doubt it.

 

Sounds like now RevCan will not part with your cash returns or credits to you until you clear up your old tickets. Live in the States now? They'll still get you when you do your returns.

 

December 29, 2009

Provinces and cities track down unpaid tickets

By Peter Rakobowchuk, THE CANADIAN PRESS

 

Former prime minister Paul Martin in Vancouver, Friday, May 1, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

 

MONTREAL - Canadian motorists who think they can ignore old speeding or parking tickets shouldn't get too comfortable.

 

Tickets from years past can come back to haunt scofflaw drivers in the form of much higher fines.

 

"We have some people we have been going after who have in excess of 50 outstanding tickets," says Steve Jackson, executive-director of the claims and recoveries program of the Alberta Justice Department.

 

Jackson says his department tracks down unpaid fines that are more than one year old and registers the offender with the Canada Revenue Agency.

 

"We're allowed to intercept their income tax refunds and the GST rebates."

 

Jackson says he's gone after offenders across Canada and the United States and advised them their income tax return will be redirected until their outstanding debt is settled.

 

 

"You could have people who are living in the U.S. temporarily who are still deemed to be Canadian and are filing Canadian income taxes," he said.

 

Jackson noted that one motorist had 57 outstanding tickets over a five-year period which included speeding, driving an unregistered vehicle and driving with a suspended licence.

 

The man was eventually incarcerated when authorities caught up with him.

 

Jackson recalled another case last year when a father came in to pay his daughter's fines, which totalled more than $5,000.

 

Pietro Macera, a bailiff who collects unpaid fines for the City of Montreal, says a five-year statute of limitations on outstanding fines can be renewed.

 

"Whether it's a civil matter, a ticket matter, a criminal matter, it's gonna catch up to you," he said in an interview.

 

Macera, 50, says any unpaid fines will stay in a town or city's computer system.

 

"So you're driving and you get grabbed by the police for speeding, or a red light, or a burned-out light - well that day is not your lucky day, especially if you've ignored that $100 speeding ticket."

 

Macera says the ticket can end up costing $500 with court costs and other fees that have been tacked on along the way.

 

In some courts in Nova Scotia, motorists who require extensions to pay a fine will appear before a justice of the peace to discuss payment options.

 

But if a fine is past due and without payment for six months, it will be referred automatically to Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations for collection action.

 

There are no extensions on fines that have been referred for collection and a motorist can't renew his licence or registration until the outstanding fine is paid up.

 

In Ontario, overdue fines may not be such a big problem - in fact, some motorists have even ended up paying twice.

 

Rolly Riopel, runs POINTTS, a Barrie, Ont., firm that provides legal representation for people who want to fight their traffic violations.

 

He says "hundreds, maybe thousands" of Ontarians may have paid overdue traffic fines to both the province and their local municipality.

 

The Ontario government transferred enforcement of provincial offences to municipalities between 1999 and 2002 and many hired collection agencies to go after outstanding fines.

 

Over a five-year period, at least 50 motorists have come into Riopel's office to complain they had already paid the province but were still being chased down by local municipalities.

 

"The only thing I could say is either you have a receipt or you don't," he said in an interview.

 

"If you've got a receipt, no problem, (but) if you haven't got a receipt, you have to pay it again."

 

Riopel, 62, says most of his regular clients are first-time offenders, who are worried about losing their licence, points and insurance premiums.

 

"They want to try to keep their record as clean as possible," he said.

 

But the former Ontario Provincial Police officer says he's noticed fewer people have been coming to him for help in recent years.

 

"Either people are paying their fines or they've caught up to everybody who was outstanding," he said.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball]

I don't know about the States or the rest of Canada, but you can't get away without paying here in Ontario. Your tickets are linked to your name and driver's license number through your license plate, and thus, when you renew your driver's license, buy a new sticker for your plate or try to register a new vehicle, they want their money up front (or you don't get what you came in for). This is not rocket science, it's the computer age... where men are sheep and bureaucrats run the paddock.

[Wobbly Head]

I don't know about the States or the rest of Canada, but you can't get away without paying here in Ontario. Your tickets are linked to your name and driver's license number through your license plate, and thus, when you renew your driver's license, buy a new sticker for your plate or try to register a new vehicle, they want their money up front (or you don't get what you came in for). This is not rocket science, it's the computer age... where men are sheep and bureaucrats run the paddock.

 

Same in Alberta, They also tie the vehicle registration to photo radar tickets since they can't nail the driver for offences caught on speed camaras as there is no way to confirm who was actualy driving at the time they nail who ever the car is registered to so you end up paying for who ever is driving the vehicle at the time big money grab for municapalities especialy as cars have to be registered every year.

[DesertEagle]

Venerable & Geoff, I should be asking you a question:

 

In 2002 I got a $300 speeding ticket in Quebec. I didn't pay it and have since lost the ticket. It has not shown up on my driving record in the United States.

 

1. Who does one contact about such a thing?

2. Would the ticket stop me from flying through Canada to say, Europe?

[Geoff Winnington-Ball]

In 2002 I got a $300 speeding ticket in Quebec. I didn't pay it and have since lost the ticket. It has not shown up on my driving record in the United States.

 

1. Who does one contact about such a thing?

2. Would the ticket stop me from flying through Canada to say, Europe?

 

(1) Try googling the "Province of Quebec" if you really want to pay it. Other than that, it's extremely unlikely they'll ever come after you... they don't even do that between provinces up here, let alone in other countries.

 

(2) As per the above, highly unlikely, especially if you're just changing planes as opposed to going through Customs. Even then, Customs is a federal jurisdiction as opposed to provincial, and traffic tickets aren't tracked outside the province.

 

This doesn't mean things WON'T change down the road, however. If you deserved the ticket, you should probably just pay it and be done with it. Keep your receipt, though.

 

Sorry I can't be of more help. I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV...

 

G.

[MiloMorai]

Venerable & Geoff, I should be asking you a question:

 

In 2002 I got a $300 speeding ticket in Quebec. I didn't pay it and have since lost the ticket. It has not shown up on my driving record in the United States.

 

1. Who does one contact about such a thing?

2. Would the ticket stop me from flying through Canada to say, Europe?

 

Off the Inet

 

"One caveat however is if your speeding offenses amount to something more under Canadian rules than simple tickets. For example, the Criminal Code of Canada (federal legislation) contains offenses of dangerous driving, street racing, and others. If your speeding offenses fall into anything caught by the Criminal Code, you may likely be criminally inadmissible."

[DesertEagle]

Off the Inet

 

"One caveat however is if your speeding offenses amount to something more under Canadian rules than simple tickets. For example, the Criminal Code of Canada (federal legislation) contains offenses of dangerous driving, street racing, and others. If your speeding offenses fall into anything caught by the Criminal Code, you may likely be criminally inadmissible."

 

The citation was 147 kph in a 100 kph zone. I was going with trafic. Never before had I seen such a large speed trap. There were probably 30 officers. All I got was a ticket. No court date or anything.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball]

The citation was 147 kph in a 100 kph zone. I was going with trafic. Never before had I seen such a large speed trap. There were probably 30 officers. All I got was a ticket. No court date or anything.

 

You're probably OK with that, but it's up to you how you want to handle it.

[Dame Karmen]

In 2002 I got a $300 speeding ticket in Quebec. I didn't pay it and have since lost the ticket. It has not shown up on my driving record in the United States.

 

1. Who does one contact about such a thing?

2. Would the ticket stop me from flying through Canada to say, Europe?

 

Sorry but I wouldn't have a clue. I googled but couldn't find anything specific yet but found this site. Don't know enough to vouch for whats said there though.

 

http://www.borderadventures.com/quebeclaws.html

 

Sorry I'm not much help, but it does sound like if you get pulled over again in Quebec they could take your vehicle on the spot and other unpleasant things. Don't know if they would have listed your name and licence number with border crossing Canadian customs though. Sounds like they have some sort of reciprocal thing with Ontario. Hopefully someone who knows something for sure will post for you

[DesertEagle]

Update. My cousin's daughter is getting married in Montreal in June, so I had to do something.

 

I called the Bureau Des Infractions today. Luck be told, the fine had only gone up a little bit, to $374 Canadian. I paid over the phone and got a receipt by fax from Justice Quebec.

[rmgill]

[Tim the Tank Nut]

yeah,

not a lot of women on the forum... can't imagine why!

way back in the day we had a poster by the handle of "Bomb Chick". She was in EOD as I recall and some relatively new member of the forum (not me!) posted "R U hot?"

you can probably imagine the response

Geoff and King would've remembered...

[rmgill]

I was more responding to opening a thread and seeing something from Dame Karmen and then from Geoff in it.

[Tim the Tank Nut]

that's what I was thinking of too. My train of thought just meandered from Karmen to Geoff and the "calming" influence that they had on the forums. From there it morphed into Geoff talking to Bomb Chick about not blowing a new forum member up with some sort of recovered explosive. It's been a long time and I don't recall the details but Geoff was very diplomatic about it.

My brain takes some strange detours...

[BP]

It would be poetic justice if Karmen stiffed the government on a whole bunch of parking tickets in the end. She is missed.

[Corinthian]

I saw this thread, saw who started it, and I was all

[T19]

Happy we don't prune anymore

[EvanDP]

I was surprised when I opened the thread when I saw who started it.

 

Actually I can hear her voice when I read the first post. Awhile back she was having computer problems and I PM'd her and she PM'd me back with her phone #. I called her and talked her through her issue. She was really surprised anyone would call from half a continent away to help. I told her to call me anytime if she had anymore issues but I think she was too polite to bother me outside the forum. Her voice is the only one I can put together with a handle/avatar.

 

It's funny how one female voice can balance out a whole forum full of knuckleheads.

[shep854]

I thought it was rather poignant; glad I'm not the only one.

I've seen some spider posts on Facebook; the first person I thought of was Geoff.

Edited May 9, 2014 by shep854

[MiloMorai]

Why isn't Karmen in the Hall of Remembrance.

[shep854]

Why isn't Karmen in the Hall of Remembrance.

Good question--I second the motion! She made a special place with all of us.

[rmgill]

Yeah, the swimming tarantula had me thinking, "oh, Geoff would LOVE to see this....,"

[RETAC21]

 

Why isn't Karmen in the Hall of Remembrance.

Good question--I second the motion! She made a special place with all of us.

 

 

She passed away?

[shep854]

Yeah, the swimming tarantula had me thinking, "oh, Geoff would LOVE to see this....,"

We would have been rubbing it in his face like nobody's business...

[Mr King]

I'm really sorry to hear that she passed away. I have been wondering how she had been doing, since her last post were about her finding out she had cancer.