The fine is only part of the cost. Know your options before you pay.
In Ontario, paying a traffic ticket is pleading guilty, and the conviction brings any demerit points the offence carries and can raise your insurance premiums. For serious charges like careless or stunt driving, the stakes include your licence itself.
Olanur matches you with verified traffic lawyers and licensed paralegals who can review the ticket, explain the real cost of a conviction, and fight it where it is worth fighting.
Olanur is a legal matching platform, not a law firm. The services described on this page are performed by independent licensed lawyers and legal professionals you can be matched with, and each sets their own fees.
Ordinary Ontario traffic tickets are Part I offence notices under the Provincial Offences Act. That Act decides what paying means, what staying silent means, and who is allowed to stand up in court for you. These are the rules a traffic lawyer or paralegal works with, each one checked against the current law or official guidance.
Once the court office accepts your payment, the law records three things at once: a guilty plea, a conviction and the set fine. A Part I ticket cannot carry a jail sentence and the fine is capped at $1,000, but the demerit points and any suspension attached to the offence still follow the conviction.
From the day the ticket is served, you have 15 days to give notice that you want a trial, to request a meeting with the prosecutor where the ticket offers one, or to resolve it another way. Let the 15 days pass with no choice made and a clerk can enter a conviction in your absence, without a hearing.
An early resolution meeting can end with a guilty plea to the same offence or to a substituted one, along with submissions on the penalty. If no deal is reached, or the justice will not accept the plea, the case goes to trial. Missing the meeting counts as not disputing the charge.
You are entitled, at no cost, to all the relevant material the prosecutor holds, which can include the officer's notes, witness statements, diagrams and photographs. None of it arrives on its own. The Ontario Court of Justice tells defendants to ask the court office named on the ticket, and the request may have to be in writing.
Points are recorded as of the date of the offence and count over a two-year window. A fully licensed driver gets a warning notice at 6 to 8 points, can be called to an interview at 9 to 14, and is suspended at 15. A first suspension at 15 points lasts 30 days from the day the licence is surrendered.
Driving 40 km/h or more over a limit below 80, 50 km/h or more over a limit of 80 or higher, or 150 km/h or more whatever the limit, counts as stunt driving. If the officer believes you were stunt driving, your licence is suspended for 30 days and the vehicle is impounded for 14, with no hearing first and no appeal. None of that stops you contesting the charge itself, which our stunt driving guide walks through stage by stage.
A defendant may appear in person or through a representative authorized under the Law Society Act, which in practice usually means a licensed paralegal or lawyer. The Law Society's By-Law 4 authorizes licensed paralegals to represent parties in the Ontario Court of Justice under the Provincial Offences Act, which is why most ticket work does not need a lawyer.
If you were convicted without a hearing, you have 15 days from learning about the conviction to apply to have it struck out. The clerk must strike it out if your affidavit or other evidence shows that, through no fault of yours, you could not attend or never received a notice about the case, and if the clerk refuses, a justice reviews it.
Sources, checked 3 October 2026
Looking for help with one of the services below? Our pre-qualified lawyers can help. Not sure where your problem fits? Tell us what happened and Olanur's AI will figure it out and match you with the right lawyer.
A professional reviews your ticket, whether it is speeding, careless driving, a red-light camera matter or another provincial offence, and explains your real options.
Representation or consultation for stunt driving, excessive speeding and licence suspension matters, where the insurance and licence consequences are serious.
A licensed professional attends one Provincial Offences Court appearance or resolution meeting on your behalf, prepared in advance.
Tell us what happened in plain language. No legal jargon needed, and it is completely private.
Our AI matches you with verified, licensed professionals who handle exactly this kind of matter in your province.
Review expertise, languages and consultation fees, then book a time that works. Matching is free for clients.
Free AI matching with verified Canadian lawyers. No directories to dig through, no cold calls, no obligation.
Find My Lawyer Now100% free for clients · Licensed professionals only · Response in under 24 hours
Often it is worth a look before you pay. The fine is only the visible part: the conviction also brings any demerit points the offence carries and shows on your driver record. For the most serious charges the province is blunt, saying drivers convicted of aggressive, careless or stunt driving will experience a substantial increase in their insurance rates or could become uninsurable. A review tells you whether the charge can be beaten or reduced before you decide.
Within 15 days of being served, either give notice that you want a trial or, if the ticket offers it, request a meeting with the prosecutor. Then ask the court office for disclosure, the officer's notes and the rest of the prosecution's file, because it is not sent automatically. At the meeting you can try to resolve the charge to a lesser offence. At trial the prosecution still has to prove the offence beyond a reasonable doubt, even though the officer's certificate counts as evidence unless something contradicts it.
For most tickets, a licensed paralegal is enough. The Provincial Offences Act lets you appear through a representative authorized under the Law Society Act, and licensed paralegals are authorized to act in this court. Paralegals can also handle serious provincial charges like stunt driving or driving while suspended. If the same driving also leads to a Criminal Code charge, a paralegal can act only in summary conviction court on certain offences, dangerous operation among them; for anything else you would need a lawyer. Olanur matches you with whichever professional fits the charge.
They request and read the disclosure, check the ticket and the officer's evidence for problems, and use the meeting with the prosecutor to negotiate a plea to a lesser offence where one is on offer. If no deal makes sense, they run the trial. They can usually attend in your place, so you often will not need to take a day off work for each appearance, although the court can still order you to attend and you must be there if you testify.
There are two clocks. Demerit points count for two years from the date of the offence. The conviction itself shows on the standard three-year driver record, which lists Highway Traffic Act and Criminal Code convictions from the past three years. Ontario also issues longer five-year, extended and complete records, which is worth knowing if an employer or insurer asks for one.
For the serious end of the scale, yes, and the province says so: aggressive, careless or stunt driving convictions bring a substantial increase in rates or can leave you uninsurable. The province's driving pages do not say how an ordinary speeding conviction affects rates, so ask your broker or insurer how they treat one before you decide whether to pay or fight.
No. Stunt driving is an offence under the Highway Traffic Act, a provincial law, and it is prosecuted in provincial offences court. The same piece of driving can, however, also lead police to lay a Criminal Code charge of dangerous operation, which is a criminal offence. If that happens, you need a criminal lawyer as well as traffic help.
After 15 days with no response, you are treated as not disputing the charge and a clerk can convict you without a hearing. A fine is due 15 days after it is imposed unless you get more time, and it goes into default if any part is still unpaid 15 days after that. Default can lead to your driver's licence being suspended until the fine is paid. After 90 days in default, the province can report the debt to a credit bureau.
Written by our editorial team and grounded in Canadian law, so you can walk into any conversation prepared.
Charged with stunt driving in Ontario? The speed thresholds, the 30-day suspension and 14-day impound, the 2026 conviction penalties, and whether to fight it.
Charged with impaired driving in Ontario? The roadside suspension and impound, the criminal charge, 2026 penalties, the interlock, and when a lawyer helps.
Learn 9 situations where traffic ticket lawyers in Canada can help speeding, careless driving, DUI, demerit points, licence suspensions, court dates, and more.
Traffic Tickets