Nextlaw - Ontario's Stunt Driving, DUI & U.S. Waiver Law Firm

Written by Jon Cohen, Partner at NextLaw, Ontario's speeding ticket law firm, based in Toronto and representing drivers in every court in Ontario. Published September 2, 2026 · Last updated September 2, 2026. Current as of September 2026; Ontario law only. How bad are 4 demerit points for an Ontario speeding ticket? Four demerit points is the serious end of an ordinary Ontario speeding ticket, but for a fully licensed driver it is still well short of losing your licence. You need 15 points to be suspended, and you get a warning letter at 6. Two things almost nobody explains. If you are a G1 or G2 driver, a single 4-point conviction can trigger a suspension on its own, even on a first ticket. And either way, the points are not the real cost: insurers rate the conviction behind the ticket, and a 30-to-49-over conviction is a more serious speeding conviction that could affect your insurance for up to three years, long after the points are gone. Four demerit points is added for driving...

Written by Jon Cohen, Partner at NextLaw, a speeding ticket law firm based in Toronto representing drivers in every court in Ontario. Licensed by the Law Society of Ontario. Published August 28, 2026 · Last updated August 28, 2026 · Ontario, Canada. Current as of August 2026; traffic law and penalties can change. How bad are 3 demerit points in Ontario? The short answer For a fully licensed Ontario driver, 3 demerit points are close to harmless on their own. It takes 15 points to lose your licence, and you don't even get a warning letter until 6. So a single 3-point ticket doesn't put your licence anywhere near the edge. Here is the part almost nobody explains: the points are not what costs you money. Insurers don't price your premium on your demerit points. They price the conviction behind the ticket, sorted as minor, major, or serious. And that conviction could raise your rates for up to three years, long after the points are gone. "How many points" is the wrong...

Is it worth fighting a speeding ticket in Ontario? For most people, yes — and more than it was a few years ago. According to NextLaw Analysis of Ontario Court of Justice data, Ontario's courts now withdraw about four and a half times more speeding charges than they did before the pandemic — climbing from roughly 2 in 100 to about 1 in 9 — and a growing share of tickets are being pushed all the way to a trial date. That is a rate across every charge the courts processed, not a prediction for your specific ticket, but the direction is real. Here is the part that matters most: you don't get a speeding charge withdrawn or dismissed by paying it, and rarely by winning a dramatic courtroom argument. You get there by responding within 15 days, asking for a trial instead of paying the fine, requesting the prosecution's evidence, and using the gaps in it to negotiate a withdrawal or a reduction. And the reason to bother isn't the fine — the fine is the small part. A conviction i...

By Jon Cohen, Partner at NextLaw — Ontario's stunt driving defence firm Yes — for a stunt driving charge in Ontario you should have a lawyer, and the worry that a busy firm won't give your case personal attention doesn't match how these cases actually work. A stunt driving charge under section 172 of the Highway Traffic Act is resolved in a private, one-on-one conversation with the prosecutor about your file, and only your file. Cases are never bundled together in that discussion — so whether a firm is handling one file or a thousand, in that room it is only your case, with its complete attention. Individual attention isn't a favour a firm does you; on a stunt driving charge, it's built into how the case is resolved. If you or your son or daughter has been charged, the fear is real and immediate: a licence suspended on the spot, a car towed away, and penalties that read like a criminal sentence. It's natural to look at a firm that handles a high volume of these ...

No. Raising the highway speed limit to 110 km/h does not give drivers more room before a stunt driving charge. Under section 172 of Ontario's Highway Traffic Act, driving 150 km/h or more is stunt driving anywhere in the province, no matter the posted limit — so on a road posted at 110, you can be charged with stunt driving at just 40 km/h over. The other trigger, 50 km/h or more over the limit, still applies too (that's 160 on a 110 highway) — but the absolute 150 km/h line hits first. And a stunt charge lands on your licence and your vehicle at the roadside, before you ever see a courtroom. Ontario is now expanding 110 km/h limits permanently across a growing list of provincial highways through 2026 — including stretches of Highways 401, 400, 402, 403, 404, 416, 417 and the QEW. More 110 km/h roads means more drivers exposed to a threshold most people misunderstand. Here's exactly how it works. What speed is stunt driving on a 110 km/h highway in Ontario? Ontario has thre...

Written by Jon Cohen, Partner at NextLaw · Licensed by the Law Society of Ontario · Published August 19, 2026 · Last updated August 19, 2026 Ontario, Canada. Current as of August 2026. General information about how speeding convictions and car insurance work in Ontario — not legal advice for your specific ticket. The short answer Insurers price from the conviction, not the ticket or your demerit points, and it could last about three years (up to six if serious). Source: NextLaw Analysis of Ontario insurance-rating practice. In Ontario, a speeding ticket affects your car insurance only if it becomes a conviction — and it is the conviction, not the ticket or your demerit points, that insurers actually rate. A conviction stays on the record insurers price from for three years (up to six for the most serious offences), and it can be re-rated at every renewal in that window. Because of that, a single conviction could cost far more over three years than the fine itself — anywhere from a few ...