Distracted driving is still a big problem in Ontario. It is one of the most common cases of provincial offence. Since the law banning drivers from using distracting electronic devices was passed in February, Ontario provincial police have issued 2,279 distracted driving charges. It seems like drivers are not getting the message when it comes to distracted driving. Last month, Toronto provincial police issued 4,400 provincial offence drivers in the first three months of enforcing the new law.
The three most common type of charges under the new distracted driving law are:
Ontario Drivers caught using one of these electronic communications to do things such as texting or talking while driving face a fine of $155. Moreover, if the police officer deems it proper, they could lay more serious charges such as careless driving or dangerous driving. The maximum fine for a ticket is $500. Tickets must be served within 30 days of the distracted driving offence. If you are served with one, you should pay it within 15 days of its receipt. The easiest way to deal with your distracted driving ticket is to pay your fine to the relevant authority. Payment of your fines means you are admitting your guilt, but it in most cases it will not result in a criminal record. If you do not pay the fine within this time limit, they may receive a Provincial Offence Notice Part III, which is a court summons.
Distracted drivers are dangerous because they are the ones that travel at irregular speed, and are all over the road, interfering with other drivers who have their children in the car and want to drive sensibly and reach their destination safely.
Drinking and driving offences in Ontario have been a recurring problem and one of the main focuses of the Safer Roads for a Safer Ontario Act. According to government statistics, a quarter of all motor vehicle fatalities in Ontario are the result of drinking and driving; on top of this, 75 per cent of convicted drunk drivers continue to drive despite driving bans. The Ontario government intends to limit recurring drink driving by giving reduced licence suspensions for those drunk drivers who participate in the Ignition Interlock Conduct Review programme.
The Ignition Interlock Conduct Review Programme is muted to start on 3rd August this year. Eligible convicted drivers will be selected for participation in the programme and will be given their licences back much sooner than before. The programme works by giving the suspended drink driver a device that fits on to their car’s ignition system. The device stops the car from starting if it detects alcohol on the driver’s breath (the device is programmed to stop when alcohol readings exceed 20 milligrams in 100 millilitres of blood from a breath sample.) The law in Ontario currently dictates that first time impaired drivers face a one-year licence suspension, yet with the new programme, drunk drivers will receive a reduced suspension of around three months followed by nine months of driving with an ignition interlock device.
Lawyers in the province argue that the new programme unfairly punishes drunk drivers because they must enter a guilty plea once the interlock ignition device detects an illegal alcohol reading.
The programme has been designed to modify the behaviour of impaired drivers. Using the interlock ignition device is aimed at training drivers not to drink alcohol again when getting into their cars and when used over a nine month period, the impaired driver’s behaviour is expected to change.
There are huge benefits to impaired drivers eligible for the programme particularly those in rural areas with weak transport links; in the past these drivers may have lost their livelihood because getting in to work was difficult without a car. Nevertheless, some Ontario lawyers are in arms about the programme because eligibility depends on a guilty plea. Ontario lawyers feel that some drivers may be ignoring the fact that they have a valid defence and simply pleading guilty to get onto the programme, when their lawyers could fight the charges.
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Ontario is taking two new steps to create a more user friendly small claims court and family justice system. Ontario will provide information meetings on small claims court and family justice issues as well as introducing an online tool to help applicants to complete legal forms.
The new online tool dubbed the Ontario Court Forms Assistant is designed to help applicants fill out the most commonly-used forms for the small claims and family courts. Using the forms assistant will enable applicants to fill out forms that will help them to get a restraining order or apply for child custody or change a child support order or open a family court case or reply to a family law claim. When an applicant selects a legal form online, they are asked certain questions relating to their case and once these have been answered they can download their own personal completed form.
The proposed information sessions will provide information on a variety of civil and family law topics such as how to come to terms with divorce and separation and the effect they have on children and adults as well as effective alternatives to solving civil disputes like mediation and arbitration. For the court authorities the online processing coupled with more information will speed up the court process.
The new program is part of Ontario Attorney General, Chris Bentley’s program of family justice reform, which he announced in December 2009. Bentley says that the move will make the province’s family court system more accessible, cost effective and simple to use. The information sessions will also help Ontarians to make better informed decisions. The program was applauded by Minister of Children and Youth Services and Minister Responsible for Women’s Issues, Laurel Broten who commented that “When relationships break down, it is important for families, especially women, to receive early information about their legal rights and responsibilities, and the impact of separation and divorce on children and adults, so they can make the best choices for themselves and their children.”
A recent report based on telephone interviews with managers in 500 small and medium companies in Ontario shows that generally managers in small companies are not aware of benefits of mediation.
The report suggests that only 7 % of the managers interviewed have used mediation in order to save time and money in settling supplier, employee and customers disputes. A further 56% have heard of this form of dispute resolution but have never used it.
Around two-thirds of all respondents said that mediation is only to be used as a last resort after an issue has been taken to court and the court did not reach a satisfactory verdict. Another wide-spread delusion among managers was that they viewed it as a very expensive procedure, suitable only for big enterprises.
Mediation is sometimes referred to as Alternative Dispute Resolution. The main benefit of mediation services is that they offer a way to solve problems between individuals and organizations without involving a court. Some courts refer cases to mandatory mediation before permitting the case to court. In Ontario the mandatory mediation program is compulsory for all civil cases. Under the Ontario Mandatory Mediation Program, all parties have to compile evidence regarding the issues in need of dispute resolution within 30 days after the last day for serving a notice of appearance and the court then appoints one of the parties that will have to organize the resolution session.
While the content of the mediation session is confidential and cannot be disclosed in court or in front of third parties, any agreements made at the session are legally binding. Therefore, if one of the disputants fails to observe the agreement, the other disputants may make a motion for judgment or enter into legal proceedings or arbitration. The non-compliant party is responsible for paying the mediators cancellation fee as well as being receiving court sanctions.
Legal Aid in Ontario assists people on low-incomes to get legal help, representation and telephone and online support. Legal aid in Ontario is available to immigrants facing a hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board, tenants facing hearings with the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board, victims of domestic violence, those people who have been charged with criminal offence and cannot afford a lawyer and those families involved in child custody disputes. Unfortunately civil representations have been cut from the Ontario Legal Aid roster of services.
One of the tools to make access to Legal Aid in Ontario easier is the new toll-free hotline, but this has met with sharp criticism that the service offered is ineffective with long wait times and poor access. The idea behind the phone service was to cut the number of Legal Aid application offices in the province but many clinic lawyers believe that moving from direct consultation to phone services will negatively affect the traditional client-lawyer relationship.
David McKillop, Vice President of Legal Aid Ontario (LAO) admitted that the LAO call centre needed more staff and that a plan was in place to recruit more call center agents. LAO had been caught out by experiencing a higher than expected demand for the toll free phone service. Additionally, French speakers experienced waits of up to one hour because the call centre did not have enough bilingual staff.
LAO has experienced huge increases in the number of people calling for certificate services and its online application portal has helped to cope with some of the demand. Calls for certificate services come predominantly from citizens living outside of Toronto who found it difficult to get to a legal aid office. Nevertheless critics of legal aid in Ontario maintain that the new phone line does not adequately serve poorer and disadvantaged sections of society; they maintain that these people need one to one consultations. David McKillop stresses that face to face representation will be available to those people who need it and that the phone service is there to compliment not replace the traditional legal aid processes.
