OHTA.ca

I got pulled over last week on an unregistered motorized mountain bike. The officer asked if I had a license and I replied, no. She then asked for some Identification and when she came back from the cruiser she said I have a Suspended License for DUI.

I lost my license for DUI almost 3 years ago. When I lost my license, my prohibition order stated 1 count of section 253(b) for a suspension of 12 months.

So, I did the back on track program and paid my fines. When my year was almost up, I began to look into the ignition interlock device. I soon realized that I couldn't afford it along with the high insurance so i decided not to renew my license. So my thought was that I no longer had a Drivers license at all.

I made a few calls yesterday to find out how it was possible that my license could still be suspended after I did back on track, paid my fines, and served my 1 year prohibition. The answer I got was that my license had been suspended for 3 years due to having a prior DUI back in 2001.

I need to know if my court ordered prohibition paper can be used as defense in a case to get the driving under suspension dropped to driving without a liscense?

Thanks for you time in advance.

The 3-year suspension is an administrative action by MTO. Your first Impaired Driving conviction will net an automatic 1 year licence suspension; the second one is 3 years. The 1 year prohibition for 253(b) is actually a bit different, in that instead of being an HTA "suspension," it actually DISQUALIFIES you from driving. If you Drive Disqualified, that's a criminal offence. Driving Suspended is a provincial/HTA matter. They seem similar but they're actually two different things...

A third conviction will net a lifetime licence suspension in Ontario.