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wronglyaccused
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1 Year Suspension On A G2 License. Questions

by: wronglyaccused on

I have been suspended for 1 year due to pleading guilty for Dangerous Operation of a Motor Vehicle.

At first, the court ordered me 1 year probation and had told me my license would not get suspended and no driving for a year would be part of my probation.


But around a week ago I got a letter from MTO saying my license is suspended for a year starting early october, even though the judge had told me it would not be suspended.


I have a couple questions.


1. Do I have to give my G2 License to MTO before the suspension starts? I haven't been driving the past month and half but only got the suspension letter a week ago.

2. I got a conditional discharge, so after my year is up and my license isn't suspended anymore, do I have to re-apply for my G1 or can I go to my G Full License right after the suspension?

3. Will my insurance see the discharge after the year is done? Am I considered high-risk due to it?

4. Is there any way to end the probation early? Or to appeal the court decision?


Thanks guys!

ynotp
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by: ynotp on

At first, the court ordered me 1 year probation and had told me my license would not get suspended and no driving for a year would be part of my probation.

???


To me no driving for a year as part of probation sounds like a suspension to me. When were you convicted? Normally you are supposed to surrender your license when the suspension starts.


You got the discharge because Dangerous Operation is a Criminal Code charge and having anything on an otherwise clean record could haunt you for life. It was not intended to nor will it give you a break with your insurer. Suspensions will appear on your driver abstract. Do you really think that someone with a few minor infractions would have that held against them for 3 years but someone who operates a vehicle criminally would have no record after a year? Just think of high risk insurance for 5 to 7 years as an incidental part of your sentence that they are not obligated to tell you about.


Once you plead guilty it would be VERY difficult to appeal a conviction but it is possible and expensive.

wronglyaccused
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by: wronglyaccused on

ynotp wrote:At first, the court ordered me 1 year probation and had told me my license would not get suspended and no driving for a year would be part of my probation.

???


To me no driving for a year as part of probation sounds like a suspension to me. When were you convicted? Normally you are supposed to surrender your license when the suspension starts.


You got the discharge because Dangerous Operation is a Criminal Code charge and having anything on an otherwise clean record could haunt you for life. It was not intended to nor will it give you a break with your insurer. Suspensions will appear on your driver abstract. Do you really think that someone with a few minor infractions would have that held against them for 3 years but someone who operates a vehicle criminally would have no record after a year? Just think of high risk insurance for 5 to 7 years as an incidental part of your sentence that they are not obligated to tell you about.


Once you plead guilty it would be VERY difficult to appeal a conviction but it is possible and expensive.

Hey, appreciate the reply!

I got on the probation early october during the final court decision.

As for insurance, I was told after 3 years my case will be sealed and only be available to police, not insurers, so I will most likely be driving high-risk for the next 2 years after the charge is done.

I was told to plead guilty by my lawyer as they told me it would be the best thing to do, to avoid another charge which was "Flee from police"

But now I feel like if I went to trial I could have told the truth and got discharged to a plea of temporary insanity, due to numerous non-medical related reasons.

I think the officer who stopped me was having a really bad day that day or something because he really *EDIT* me over with the charges even though no one was injured and I was driving alone on dry road conditions. Only thing I did was speed on the highway.

ynotp
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by: ynotp on

Your criminal record as related to this charge will be sealed if you keep your nose clean. Your driver record will not be sealed because that is not part of your criminal record it is simple a drivers abstract showing you license history over the last 5 years. It will show suspensions, HTA convictions, the type of license you have and when you acquired it.

daggx
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by: daggx on

But around a week ago I got a letter from MTO saying my license is suspended for a year starting early october, even though the judge had told me it would not be suspended.

A conviction for a criminal code driving offence gets you an automatic 1 year licence suspension in Ontario. The courts should know this, but sometimes they are not as up to date on MTO policy as they should be. http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/ ... 8.10.shtml


1. Do I have to give my G2 License to MTO before the suspension starts? I haven't been driving the past month and half but only got the suspension letter a week ago.

Yes you are supposed to surrender your licence to MTO. http://www.ontario.ca/driving-and-roads ... -suspended


2. I got a conditional discharge, so after my year is up and my license isn't suspended anymore, do I have to re-apply for my G1 or can I go to my G Full License right after the suspension?

I think, unless your licence expires during your suspension, you stay at G2. Although you will have to pay $150 reinstatement fee and you will need to take a vision test. http://www.ontario.ca/driving-and-roads ... rs-licence


3. Will my insurance see the discharge after the year is done? Am I considered high-risk due to it?

The 1 year suspension for a criminal code violation will show on your driver's abstract for 3 years and it will put you in the high risk driver category. You will most likely have to buy your insurance from a company that specializes in high risk drivers and pay a substantially higher rate.


4. Is there any way to end the probation early? Or to appeal the court decision?

Probably not. Once you have plead guilty it is very hard to go back and change the outcome. You would have to show that the court made a legal error in order to appeal.

Stanton
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by: Stanton on

daggx wrote:But around a week ago I got a letter from MTO saying my license is suspended for a year starting early october, even though the judge had told me it would not be suspended.

A conviction for a criminal code driving offence gets you an automatic 1 year licence suspension in Ontario. The courts should know this, but sometimes they are not as up to date on MTO policy as they should be. http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/ ... 8.10.shtml


I think the confusion lies in the different types of suspensions that can be imposed. The Courts had the option of imposing a criminal suspension on your licence which they did not. Such a suspension would have made it a Criminal offence for you to drive anywhere in Canada. Instead you were simply convicted, with no suspension handed down by the Courts.


Unfortunately for you the Highway Traffic Act now comes into play. Section 41 of the H.T.A. lists various criminal offences which carry automatic suspensions at the Provincial level. So even though the Courts decided not to issue you any kind of suspension, the Province will upon learning of your conviction. This suspension makes it a Provincial offence (versus Criminal) to drive.


It may just seem like semantics, but technically the Courts didnt suspend your licence, the Province did. In some ways it seems like a bit of a runaround since it takes discretion away from the Courts. I am somewhat surprised however that you werent made aware of the suspension by your legal representative prior to the plea. I was also under the impression that the Courts typically warn of you of the suspension when they read out your charges in Court.

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