New fees, rules for Ontario drivers in 2016

Torontosun.com
Dec. 22, 2015
By Antonella Artuso

The new year will usher in new fees and rules for Ontario drivers.

The annual fee for vehicle permit, number plate and validation fees for a trailer rises to $59 from $53.

Farmers are getting ploughed with a jump in the annual validation fee for farm vehicles, from $123 to $140 for smaller vehicles and from $975 to $1,100 for heavier vehicles.

Ontario is also bringing in a new fee of $50 for drivers who must attend demerit point interviews for bad driving.

Those who don’t pay the fee would see their driver’s licence cancelled.

As of Jan. 1, drivers will be required under law to remain stopped at a pedestrian or school crossing until everyone is off the roadway.

Pedestrians will be prohibited by law from entering a crosswalk if a vehicle is too close to stop.

The provincial government is also giving municipalities the power to chase out-of-province vehicle owners for certain traffic tickets.

The penalty applied to unpaid fines under the Provincial Offences Act (POA) will jump to $40 from $20.

Coming in the spring, municipalities will also have new powers to charge out-of-province drivers who run afoul of red-light cameras.

In a big change planned for the fall of 2016, the province intends to bring in new penalties that treat drug-impaired driving the same as drunk driving.