Ottawa police seeing numerous unlicensed drivers on the roads

The Ottawa Police service says it is seeing a growing number of drivers who are behind the wheel without valid documents. CTV’s Shaun Vardon reports.

Cindy O’Gorman used to live in the country, and she knows from experience how important driving can be when everything is too far to walk to.

Now living in Westboro, she still relies on her vehicle for many things, However, recently O’Gorman had a scare when she realized her birthday had gone by and she hadn’t been notified about her licence renewal.

“I panicked because I thought I had missed it and it ended up being it was for next year,” O’Gorman says.

“I did remember signing up for notifications so I would get an email or text, still it’s very concerning when you don’t get a notice.”

Since the Ontario government stopped charging for licence plate renewals and stopped mailing out notifications when your plate or licence was due to expire, a growing number of people are missing the expiration date and driving without knowing their licences or plates are no longer valid.

Ottawa Police Sgt. Robert Cairns says he has seen a big increase in unlicensed drivers being ticketed. New tools like the latest Automated License Plate Recognition system, making his job of locating unlicenced drivers more efficient.

“It has the ability to capture numbers of plates run them through a database and if there are any irregularities about the driver or vehicle, it will alert the officer,” said Cairns, a member of the Traffic Enforcement and Escort Division.

“They are a godsend to officers; one, they are totally unbiased. Two, they take away an officer running plates manually. In the space of time one officer could do one, it can do 20.”

According to Cairns, the fines can run into the hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, depending on the infraction. Not having valid insurance can cost you up to $5,000 just for a first infraction.

The Ottawa Police Service offered up statistics Wednesday, showing 95 tickets were handed out to drivers for charges of driving without a licence and 163 were given out for driving without a valid permit for the vehicle between Jan. 1 and Jan. 28. One third of tickets for driving without a licence and just under one half of tickets for driving without a valid permit were the result of drivers caught by ALPR technology.

The best way to avoid not having an up-to-date licence or plate is to register on the Service Ontario website for notifications. An email, text or call will go out to you at 60 days and then at 30 days before your licence or plate will expire.

But not all motorists think that’s enough of a reminder. Some, like Alison Coutts, are concerned many may still be left out and have to face fines.

“Not everyone is tech savvy and especially I know for the aging population as well they don’t use smart phones or go online for stuff so I think they are losing out a lot,” Coutts said. “I also think it’s maybe a cash grab.”

Last July, Ontario implemented an automatic renewal of plates associated with most vehicles driven on the roads. Police say that plates will be automatically renewed if the plate was in good standing.

“Vehicles with outstanding fines, toll charges or no insurance would not be eligible for this automatic renewal,” police say.