Careless driving Lawyers in Canada

Section 11(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives a person charged with an offence the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. The words of section 130 show what a prosecutor has to establish. The first part is that the person drove a vehicle or street car on a highway or in a specified place. The second part is that the driving was without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the highway or specified place.

The offence in section 130(3) adds a third part: the careless driving must have caused bodily harm or death to a person. How a court applies these words to the facts is a question for the court, and a lawyer can explain it.

For the basic offence, section 130(2) sets a fine of not less than $400 and not more than $2,000, or imprisonment for a term of not more than six months, or both. The same subsection says that the driver's licence or permit may be suspended for a period of not more than two years. The section says the licence may be suspended and sets the longest period.

An increase has been passed but is not yet in force. A note in the Act says that, on a day to be named by order of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, the range in section 130(2) will become $1,000 to $5,000. Until then, the amounts in the paragraph above are the ones the Act currently sets.

For careless driving causing bodily harm or death, section 130(4) sets a fine of not less than $2,000 and not more than $50,000, or imprisonment for a term of not more than two years, or both. The licence or permit may also be suspended for a period of not more than five years. These are limits set by the Act. They are not a prediction of any result.

A suspension under section 130 is part of the penalty on conviction, up to the periods above. A separate rule, section 48.3, deals with a 90-day suspension that follows a police officer's request to surrender a licence when the driver meets one of the criteria in that section. It is a different provision from section 130, and a lawyer can say whether it has any bearing on a particular charge.

Careless driving is not the same as dangerous operation of a conveyance. Section 320.13(1) of the Criminal Code makes it an offence to operate a conveyance in a manner that, having regard to all of the circumstances, is dangerous to the public. That is a federal offence with its own wording. Section 320.19 sets a maximum of imprisonment for not more than 10 years on indictment. A conviction under section 320.13 also suspends an Ontario licence under section 41 of the Highway Traffic Act: for one year on a first conviction, three years on the first subsequent conviction, and indefinitely after that. The later periods apply only within 10 years of the previous conviction. The charge document names the law and the section, and a lawyer can explain which offence is charged.

The words of section 130 show where a case can turn: whether the driving was on a highway or in a specified place, whether it was without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration, and, for section 130(3), whether bodily harm or death was caused. Whether a particular defence applies is a question for the court on the evidence.

Charter rights also apply. Section 10 gives everyone on arrest or detention the right to be informed promptly of the reasons and the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right. Under section 24(2), evidence obtained in a manner that infringed Charter rights is excluded if admitting it would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

Careless driving is charged under a provincial Act, and this page does not set out where that charge is heard or how a conviction is appealed. A lawyer or the court office can explain that process.

If the charge is dangerous operation under the Criminal Code, every Criminal Code charge starts in the Ontario Court of Justice, and about 95% are completed there. A person who is arrested may be taken before a justice for a release decision. Under section 515, the justice shall make a release order without conditions unless the prosecutor shows cause why detention in custody is justified or why another order should be made. After a conviction on indictment, an appeal goes to the court of appeal, as of right on a question of law alone, and with leave on other grounds under section 675.

Legal Aid Ontario may pay for a lawyer if the person qualifies and is charged with a crime that could mean jail on conviction, or is 12 to 17 and charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Duty counsel is a lawyer at the courthouse for that day. Duty counsel can advise on rights, ask to delay a court date, act at a bail hearing, help with a guilty plea, speak at sentencing, and meet the Crown, for people who qualify and have no lawyer.

A legal aid certificate pays a roster lawyer, one approved to take legal aid clients, for the length of the criminal case. Applications are online or by phone at 1-800-668-8258.

The Law Society of Ontario keeps a public Lawyer and Paralegal Directory, where a lawyer's licence can be looked up. The Ontario lawyers on this site are listed by city. Nothing on this page ranks or recommends any of them.