This question has been posted previously but hasn't been answered conclusively.

I was issued an offence notice for a prohibited u-turn under metro Toronto bylaw 32/92 section 38 (a). Is it true that no demerits are involved because the infraction doesn't fall under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act? I've read conflicting information.

Thanks very much.

Theoretically this one should have demerit points. O. Reg 339/94 prescribes demerit points, and for a couple of municipal by-law infractions, you can get demerit points. In your case, offences under section 143 and 144 (9) of the HTA, and "any municipal by-law prohibiting turns" (including u-turns) is supposed to have 2 demerit points.

However, MTO may not find out, because it is a by-law infraction. I don't know how good the city of Toronto is in notifying MTO of traffic by-law infractions. If it is HTA, it would definitely go on your driver record and you would get points. That said, your insurance company probably wouldn't find out, because it is not an HTA, CAIA or criminal offence and should not go on your driver abstract.

Thank you for the response. It's a tough one. I could just plead guilty and have it go through under the radar. I contacted the Ministry of Transportation twice and got two different answers regarding demerit points. Court services wanted to know how the offence was entered into their system. Eight days after the infraction it had not yet been entered. It seems there's significance to how the ticket is entered.

Interestingly, I have not been able to find subsection 38 "(a)" . I don't believe it exists.

Thanks again for your response. Much appreciated.