You could be fined over $100 in Ontario if your licence plate looks like this

Drivers against paying to replace damaged plates It is illegal to drive with an unreadable plate in Ontario, but many drivers do it because they don't want to pay for a replacement.

They can be seen on nearly any Ontario roadway: peeling, faded, unreadable, sometimes completely blank Ontario licence plates.

Although it's illegal to drive with an unreadable plate, some drivers do it anyway because they chose not to or cannot pay to replace them.

The damaged plates are a concern for the Ontario Provincial Police’s Highway Safety Division, according to Sergeant Kerry Schmidt, and if some or all of the characters are missing on a plate, a driver stands to be ticketed and fined up to $110.

“If we are not able to read the licence plates or people aren't able to discern them when they are calling in a driving complaint or there is a collision, that's a concern for us and for everybody," Schmidt said.

“When it comes to being rusted, corroded or delaminated, plates must be replaced if they are not plainly visible."

Unreadable licence plates are also a concern on Ontario’s Highway 407.

In a statement to CTV News Toronto, Christina Basil, Director Communications & Government Relations for the 407, said that “licence plates in poor condition can pose a readability challenge for gantry systems, which capture and process plate images.”

Basil said, in most cases where drivers’ plates are unreadable, invoices can still be issued through technologies and resources that enhance the readability of plate images.

“With that said, we do want to remind customers that unreadable licence plates are a violation of the Highway Traffic Act and it’s a driver’s responsibility to ensure their vehicle’s plates are in proper condition,” she said.

Three years ago, when the province undertook a program to switch from traditional white plates to blue plates, it led to “Plate Gate” at Queen’s Park. After rollout, it was discovered that the new blue plates could not be seen at night under certain lighting conditions and the plan to keep making the blue licence plates was scrapped.

CTV News asked Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney about Ontario’s fading, peeling licence plates who said the government has “allowed people to come forward to replace their plates as they wish.”

“We’ve equipped our OPP with automated licence plate readers so they can track cars as they’re driving down the road, but we’ve encouraged people to come forward to replace them as they wish and it’s up to individual drivers to do so,” Mulroney said.

OPP cruisers are currently equipped with automatic licence plate readers, but delaminated plates require officers to be closer to vehicles and they can still be tough to read.

"It's difficult to differentiate between a zero and an 'O,' or an 'I' and a one for example,” Schmidt said.

Service Ontario will replace defective plates at no charge within the five-year coverage period, but for any older than that there's a $59 fee.