10 Most Common Traffic Tickets

Speeding

Speeding tickets are probably the most common. Whether you’re on a highway or a back road, exceeding the speed limit can lead to a fine. Sometimes, you might not even realize you’re speeding until it’s too late and you’ve been pulled over.

 

Stunt Driving

Closely related to speeding is stunt driving. This occurs when your speed reaches a certain excessive level. Stunt driving charges are more severe than regular speeding tickets and can have more serious repercussions.

 

Distracted Driving

Using electronic devices while driving is another frequent issue. Distracted driving laws prohibit the use of mobile phones and other gadgets when you’re behind the wheel. Violation of this law not only comes with fines but can also impact your insurance premiums significantly.

 

Careless Driving

Careless driving charges often follow minor accidents. This violation suggests that you didn’t show due care while driving. Being charged with careless driving raises concerns and can affect your driving record.

 

Driving Without Insurance

Driving without insurance is both common and serious. Some drivers hit hard financial times and might skip paying their insurance premiums. If caught, the fines are steep, and driving without insurance can lead to bigger legal troubles.

 

Driving While Suspended

This violation often follows unpaid fines or missed insurance payments. Driving with a suspended licence compounds the problem, leading to heavier fines and extended suspension periods.

 

Failing to Surrender Documents

This includes not having your driver’s licence, insurance card, or other required documents when stopped by law enforcement. It’s an oversight but comes with its penalties.

 

School Bus Violations

Not stopping for a school bus when required or passing a stopped school bus is a serious offense. The danger it poses to children is significant. Convictions for this violation result in high fines and points on your licence.

 

Seatbelt Violations

Not wearing a seatbelt is a simple yet common violation. Law enforcement runs enforcement blitzes in April and October across Ontario. Professional drivers must be particularly careful about seatbelt use to maintain a clean driving record.

 

Improper Turns

Improper turns at intersections or driveways are also common. These infractions, whether turning into a driveway incorrectly or making an illegal turn at an intersection, are frequent and can result in fines or points on your driving record.

 

Video Transcription:

Over the many years that I’ve been practicing, I have been asked questions like, What are the most common types of tickets that I would see? I’m going to try to answer that. With that experience in mind, I’m going to give you what I believe to be the 10 most common traffic tickets that would come across my desk or that you may see as you’re driving around.

Some of these, ironically, I’ve actually experienced on a first hand basis where I’ve been pulled over myself and had to deal with it. That being said, let me tell you, probably, and I’ll start in the best order that I can, from memory. Top one that everyone seems to be involved in at some point in their driving career would be speeding.

That could happen anywhere, on a highway, that could happen on the back roads, and it certainly for most people happens when you’re in a position where you have no idea, and you usually read your speedometer and you’re caught. That being said, it’s the segue to the next problem, which is along those same lines, which would be stunt driving.

Most of the stunt driving cases that come across my desk, or through the firm here at OTD Legal are going to be generated from some speeding. Alright, so speeding at certain levels get you directly into what’s called stunt driving. I have other videos that you can look for that explains these specific things that may be of value that you can look at next.

One of the other most common things in most recent years has been what we call distracted driving. Use of electronic devices when you’re driving a motor vehicle. Those defenses are available that’s the one that seems to be very popular with not only, you know, coming into OTD legal, but popular with your insurance company.

If you get one of those, the consequences are very significant. The next most common in my mind would be something like careless driving, very common even a minor accident usually involves a charge to someone of careless driving, obviously that raises an eyebrow and it is of concern and it should be. Again, I have a video that will discuss that in much more detail for you, please look at that.

Another one would be driving without insurance. There’s, in some cases with clients, there’s some intent. There’s a complete dry up in funds for whatever reason, and they decided not to pay that particular bill. And as a result, they ended up being caught for driving a motor vehicle without insurance. Quite common to see. Big fine, we have a specific video to deal with that, if you have questions about that.

Driving while suspended, along those same lines, when you’re, when you start not paying your insurance, sometimes bills are neglected, sometimes even a fine is neglected, and you end up with a suspended driving charge. That in itself is a problem because it is a big fine. In addition to that it increases your suspension, so even if you paid off the fine, for example, now you’ve imported a mandatory six month suspension.

Go to those videos, you’ll, you can get some more information on that. Failing to surrender document charges, another key common offense that you may see. Not having your driver’s license, not having your insurance card on the vehicle, those types of things. Another one would be off the top of my head; failing to to stop for a school bus or passing a school bus.

Very common, easy to do but a big problem for someone that gets in that situation. Not only for the obvious danger that’s pretty rare that there’s actually a collision, but the consequence of that conviction can be a big problem for people. Not having a seatbelt. There’s two specific months that you see that are more common than others.

October and April across Ontario they have blitz enforcements for those types of things. You’ll see a lot of those, particularly troublesome for professional drivers who are trying to keep their abstract clean of convictions and of demerit points and of CVOR points. And then probably number 10 would be improper turns.

That could happen at an intersection. That could happen in turning into a driveway. Violations such as that, turning in or out of driveways turning is, what I would rate number 10 and quite common for us to see across our offices.