Careless Driving Ticket or Summons – Ticket Defenders®

What is Careless Driving?

• •  In Ontario, Canada, careless driving is driving without due care and attention, or consideration for other users of the roadway.
  • It is a broadly worded charge and the best way to find out if your actions fall into that category is to call a Ticket Defender®.
  • If you feel that you were making every reasonable effort to drive in a safe manner then you will potentially have a defence.
  • If you were actually driving in a manner that could have objectively been considered careless, you still may have defences.
  • Many charges of this nature are also capable of being reduced.
  • If you cannot afford to hire a professional then you should try, as a last resort, to defend yourself; but this is certainly a time when hiring a professional is very important.
  • A conviction to this charge should be expected to adversely increase insurance rates.

If you have received a Careless Driving charge then there are three important things that you need to know, to start:

1. Careless Driving is a 6-demerit major offence and a conviction is likely to have significant insurance ramifications; it absolutely needs to be defended.
2. You are in the right place; Careless driving is the #1 charge that we defend and we will help you.
3. The worst thing that you can do is to try to handle a case of this magnitude on your own; unless you are a trained and licensed legal service provider. But even then, if this is not your primary area of practice, you would be well advised to let us handle the case for you. A lot of damage is done to cases by Defendants trying to see how far they can get on their own before turning to a professional.

Ticket Defenders ® offers a free, no-obligation traffic ticket consultation to anyone who has received a Careless Driving ticket in Ontario, Canada. We will explain how your ticket can affect you and we will evaluate your chances of successfully fighting, or having us negotiate, the charge in court. If you do decide that you would like our assistance, the retainer process can be completed remotely the same day, without having to attend an office in person, and we will take over from there and look after everything. We will turn in the ticket for you; secure a copy of the Crown brief and review it with you; attend to all resolution meetings, motions, and applications on your behalf; keep you posted throughout the process; attend all court appearances for you if we have instructions to negotiate a resolution to a lesser offence and arrange and complete such a resolution without you having to attend court; or, attend court with you for trial if you have testimony to offer that we think might result in an acquittal on the whole charge. We will also spend time preparing you, in advance of any trial date, so that you know what to expect.

Last update April 26, 2022 https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90h08#BK229

Careless driving

130 (1) Every person is guilty of the offence of driving carelessly who drives a vehicle or street car on a highway without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway. 2017, c. 26, Sched. 4, s. 17.

Penalty

(2) On conviction under subsection (1), a person is liable to a fine of not less than $400 and not more than $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than six months, or to both, and in addition his or her driver’s licence or permit may be suspended for a period of not more than two years. 2017, c. 26, Sched. 4, s. 17.

Careless driving causing bodily harm or death

(3) Every person is guilty of the offence of driving carelessly who drives a vehicle or street car on a highway without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway and who thereby causes bodily harm or death to any person. 2017, c. 26, Sched. 4, s. 17.

Penalty

(4) On conviction under subsection (3), a person is liable to a fine of not less than $2,000 and not more than $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years, or to both, and in addition his or her driver’s licence or permit may be suspended for a period of not more than five years. 2017, c. 26, Sched. 4, s. 17.

Deemed lack of reasonable consideration 

(5) For the purposes of subsections (1) and (3), a person is deemed to drive without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway if he or she drives in a manner that may limit his or her ability to prudently adjust to changing circumstances on the highway. 2017, c. 26, Sched. 4, s. 17.

Sentencing — aggravating factor

(6) A court that imposes a sentence for an offence under subsection (3) shall consider as an aggravating factor evidence that bodily harm or death was caused to a person who, in the circumstances of the offence, was vulnerable to a lack of due care and attention or reasonable consideration by a driver, including by virtue of the fact that the person was a pedestrian, cyclist or person working upon the highway. 2017, c. 26, Sched. 4, s. 17; 2019, c. 8, Sched. 1, s. 25.

We will give you honest, straightforward advice. We understand that when it comes to traffic offences, each case is unique. We have helped thousands of clients and we hope that our predominantly 5-star Google reviews speak for themselves.

To arrange for a free consultation regarding your Careless Driving ticket, please contact one of our ticket defense offices, or simply send us your online request for a free ticket case evaluation. Don’t worry, you are absolutely in the right place and there is no Firm in the Province that is better positioned, or will work harder, to make sure that you get the best possible result! Please don’t make a decision about what to do until you have spoken to us.