Careless Driving
Charged Legal Services provides the most effective defence representation available. We specialize in Careless Driving charges, and can provide you with the support, direction and defence you need to achieve the most successful outcome possible.
A cautionary note from Charged Legal Services to those facing a Careless Driving charge in Ontario:
There is a troubling but long-standing practice in Ontario to ‘over-charge’ where the police officer is unsure of the driver’s wrongful act. For instance, where a car accident investigation points to the driver making an unsafe lane change, or perhaps running a red light, the police officer may instead lay the far more serious charge of Careless Driving.
Careless Driving Ontario –
Definition
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 on conviction 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 licence or permit may be suspended for a period of not more than two years. 2009, c. 5, s. 41.
The reasons for this vary, but generally speaking the broad circumstances that are caught by the Careless Driving definition allow it to be laid even where a more appropriate charge exists in the Highway Traffic Act.
The result is that many defendants who decide to fight the Careless Driving allegation end up pleading guilty to the lesser offence that should have been laid in the first place. The predicament causes the driver to forgo his right to challenge the case. And it’s not just unrepresented defendants that are caught in this trap…
Let Charged Legal Services navigate these legal matters for you.
We see this all the time in the courts! Being convicted of any offence arising from a motor vehicle collision can have a compounding effect on your insurability and civil liability. We specialize in careless driving litigation – Call us to find out more!
Careless Driving Ontario –
Penalties
Upon conviction the driver 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 licence or permit may be suspended for a period of not more than two years. Careless Driving carries six Demerit Points.
Careless Driving Defences and Classification
Careless Driving is a Strict Liability Offence in accordance with the Supreme Court of Canada’s classification of regulatory offences in R. v. Sault Ste. Marie. The defences in Ontario on a charge of Careless Driving may be gleaned from the leading precedents.
One of which, R. v. Beauchamp sets out the test for Careless Driving this way:
“It must also be borne in mind that the test, where an accident has occurred, is not whether, if the accused had used greater care or skill, the accident would not have happened.”
“It is whether it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that this accused, in the light of existing circumstances of which he was aware or of which a driver exercising ordinary care should have been aware, failed to use the care and attention or to give to other persons using the highway the consideration that a driver of ordinary care would have used or given in the circumstances.”
“The use of the term “due care”, which means care owing in the circumstances, makes it quite clear that, while the legal standard of care remains the same in the sense that it is what the average careful man would have done in like circumstances, the factual standard is a constantly shifting one, depending on road, visibility, weather conditions, traffic conditions that exist or may reasonably be expected, and any other conditions that an ordinary prudent driver would take into consideration. It is a question of fact, depending on the circumstances in each case.”
Useful Information and Things You Should Know About Careless Driving
Careless Driving is an anomaly among other strict liability offences. Generally, a strict liability case will place the onus upon the defendant to establish on a balance of probabilities that he exercised all reasonable care owing under the circumstances.
Careless Driving is unique in that the actus reus or ‘guilty act’ contemplated by the legislation is essentially the inverse – that the driver ‘failed to exercise all reasonable care’.
In other words, the elements that form the allegation of Careless Driving are the exact opposite of the elements in the defence in Ontario in the strict liability doctrine. It follows then to escape conviction the defendant would need only raise a reasonable doubt that he ‘failed to exercise all reasonable care owing under the circumstances’, as opposed to meeting the higher legal threshold of establishing on a balance of probabilities that he exercised all reasonable care to be acquitted. This notion is not reflected in the pre-Charter case law such as Beauchamp, noted above.
FAQ
Q: Is Careless Driving a Criminal Offence?
A: No it isn’t. It is a Provincial Offence created under sec. 130 of the Highway Traffic Act of Ontario.
Q: Is this true? I read it on a paralegal’s website:
“By personally appearing in traffic court the defendant, (person who is charged with the traffic ticket) provides the “who” also known as the “identity evidence”. All the prosecutor has to do is ask the witness who came to testify against you, or police officer, “who caused the accident” whereupon the witness would point at the defendant (person who got the ticket), completing the “identity evidence”. By appearing in traffic court sometimes the defendant actually helps to convict himself!”
A: No it is not true.
If it were, everyone charged with Careless Driving would need a representative and the paralegal would be rich. In fairness though, we’ve heard this misconception before. It’s something police officers are taught. Below is a proper statement of the law from the Supreme Court of Canada’s unanimous decision in R. v. Reitsma, 125 C.C.C. (3d) 1:
“The identification of an accused person for the first time “in the dock” is generally regarded as having little weight. In a dock identification the witness is obviously not required to pick out the person whom he claims to have seen from among a number of other persons of similar age and size and general physical appearance. In a courtroom identification there is also the danger of the witness anticipating that the offender will be present. That danger is accentuated when an accused is readily identifiable in the courtroom as the person accused of the crime. Identification of an accused for the first time in the dock is analogous to a police “show up” in which the only person shown to the identifying witness is the suspect, and for that reason it is open to the same criticism. Generally, anything which tends to convey to a witness that a person is suspected by the police or is charged with the offence has the effect of reducing or destroying the value of the identification evidence”
Q: I read this on a paralegal’s website so, I have nothing to worry about, right?
My Careless Driving charge will definitely be reduced.
“If we cannot have the charge dropped completely we will ensure that the ticket is dropped to save your demerit points, any license suspension and to have any fine reduced to its lowest.”
A: That’s just plain wrong. No one can ensure such a thing.