Contesting Traffic Tickets: Preserving Your Demerit Points and Insurance Rates in Ontario

In Ontario, most moving violations, such as speeding, are associated with demerit points. The implications of receiving a traffic ticket extend beyond immediate penalties, emphasizing the importance of contesting them.

The primary motivations for challenging a traffic ticket include:

1. Minimizing or Eliminating Demerit Points: By fighting a ticket, you aim to reduce or completely avoid the demerit points associated with the offense.
2. Preventing Insurance Rate Increases: Keeping the conviction off your record is vital in preventing your insurance company from increasing your rates.

Engaging in the process of contesting a traffic ticket is fundamentally about financial prudence. It’s not just about saving money on fines, but also about maintaining lower insurance premiums and protecting your driving record from demerit points.

Understanding and Addressing Traffic Ticket Penalties

Drivers are encouraged to contest their traffic tickets for several critical reasons:

1. Minimize or Avoid Demerit Points: Challenging a ticket can lead to a reduction or complete elimination of demerit points.
2. Prevent the Ticket from Affecting the Driving Record: Keeping the ticket off your driving record is essential in maintaining a clean driving history.
3. Avert or Minimize Insurance Premium Increases: Successfully contesting a ticket can help avoid or reduce hikes in insurance rates.

Traffic tickets often carry hidden penalties beyond the demerit points.

These can include potential license suspensions and significant increases in insurance premiums.

The accumulation of traffic tickets on a driver’s record can have a profound impact on insurance costs. Each ticket can contribute to a perception of increased risk, leading to higher insurance premiums.

Furthermore, it’s important to note that convictions for traffic tickets remain on a driver’s record for three years. This duration underscores the long-term implications of traffic violations and the importance of addressing each ticket proactively.

The first thing to do is learn and educate yourself:

• how is the ticket going to affect you
• how will your insurance be affected
• is this a first or second traffic ticket
• does the ticket have demerit points
• does the ticket have any hidden penalties
  • e.g licence suspensions

After analyzing the ticket consider how to fight the ticket.  Are you going to fight it yourself or get professional help?

Demerit Points.com recommends OTT Legal Services for fighting traffic tickets, and are the best reviewed traffic ticket company for winning and saving demerit points.

When drivers decide to fight traffic tickets you join thousands of other drivers exercising their rights to dispute a charge.

When fighting traffic tickets many times:

• the driver did not did not commit the offence / the officer is wrong
• the driver has a legal defence to the charge, or
• there is a compromise to save the demerit points or reduce the charge.
• the driver can delay or avoid the ticket going to the insurance record.

As a driver it’s your right to either dispute the charge and/or seek to have it reduced and save your demerit points.

Once the driver has decided to fight the ticket and save their demerit points they have two (2) choices.

1. Fight the ticket yourself, or
2. Get professional help

Although drivers can always fight their own traffic ticket by getting a professional you get the best possible results for your case.

A professional traffic ticket fighter will;

• Know any of the legal technicalities
• Give you the best chance of having the traffic ticket dismissed
• Give you the best opportunity to save your demerit points.
• Save you time and possibly money through saving increased insurance premiums

Where you are considering professional advice we recommend OTT Legal Services to fight your ticket.