“Driving Non-designated Vehicle In Designated Lane”

Hi Everyone!

I was hoping if I could get some insight from you guys. I was driving to work a new clients facility today early in the morning. I usually do not drive in Toronto as I'm from the west end of oakville and I was in what the officer pointed out to me as a HOV lane on city streets. He advised that I was going to be charged with 3 demerits points and a huge fine. I provided him my license, registration and insurance. I was driving my father's new car and he advised that I didn't have a sticker on the back of my plate ownership. However, the sticker on the plate was valid. What I believe happened was when the lease ended we gave the car back and got a new and the new ownership did not have the sticker on the back. Nonetheless, he came back and provided me with a provincial offenses warning for not having a valid sticker. On the warning, it says it's not a ticket so I'm wondering if this at all will affect my insurance. Also since I was being cooperative, he advised he was going to cut me a break and only give me a ticket under municipal bylaw for driving non designated vehicle in a designated lane. The total payable is only 85 dollars and he advised this is a bylaw offense and will not show up on driving abstract or affect my insurance. Can someone please verify this for me? It was my fault as I was in lane to pass a slow moving vehicle (construction vehicle) but none the less the sign was there after he pointed it out to me. I will post the full copy of the ticket when I get home as I can not edit it on my phone.

Any advice is appreciated! I just don't want it to affect my insurance as I do plan on getting a vehicle and my insurance renewal just passed a week ago

Would this show on my abstract?

The warning will NOT affect your insurance at all. But as a side note, the sticker is NOT required to be on the back of your ownership, only on the plate itself. Many police officers do not know this for some reason, but if you did get a ticket for no sticker on ownership, then it is an easy one to beat.

As far as bylaw offences go, some municipalities report them to MTO and some do not. If they do report it to MTO then it will show up on your record and will affect your insurance (although probably minimally).

jsherk wrote:The warning will NOT affect your insurance at all. But as a side note, the sticker is NOT required to be on the back of your ownership, only on the plate itself. Many police officers do not know this for some reason, but if you did get a ticket for no sticker on ownership, then it is an easy one to beat.

As far as bylaw offences go, some municipalities report them to MTO and some do not. If they do report it to MTO then it will show up on your record and will affect your insurance (although probably minimally).

Hi Jsherk! Thank you for your help. I have a couple of other questions. Would I be able to discredit the officer if I am able to create doubt in his judgement? The warning he issued me was for driving motor vehicle with no currently validated permit. After spending more time, I checked and based on your description, youre right I don't need to even have the sticker on the back of the ownership. Furthermore, my car is literally only 2 weeks old and my plate portion of the ownership clearly states the validation tag number and the expiry date so he basically issued me a merit less warning. As it is an absolute liability offense, Im wondering if I can create doubt in his judgement and his ability to do something right, would it have any impact in the courtroom. Furthermore, I contacted the MTO and got the following response. Would this mean im in the clear?

Even somebody who is extremely skilled at cross-examination of witnesses on the stand, would probably not be able to discredit the officers testimony with anything you have said.

If bylaw offences do not go on your driving record then they will not affect insurance at all, and that is great news!