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Order your driver abstract →If you have an Ontario driver’s licence but received a traffic ticket outside the province, you may wonder whether it can affect your Ontario driving record. The answer depends on where the offence happened, what the offence was, and whether it resulted in a conviction Ontario recognizes.
Can an out-of-province offence affect an Ontario driving record?
Yes. Ontario states that demerit points can be added for qualifying driving-law violations committed in other Canadian provinces and territories, as well as in New York and Michigan. Examples include speeding, failing to obey a stop sign or traffic signal, failing to stop for a school bus, racing, careless driving, and failing to remain at the scene of a collision.
A ticket is not the same as a conviction
It is important to distinguish between receiving a ticket and being convicted. Ontario’s demerit-point system is tied to convictions for applicable offences. It would therefore be misleading to assume every ticket received outside Ontario automatically appears on an Ontario abstract.
What does the standard 3-year record contain?
Ontario describes the 3-year driver record as including driver identification details, the demerit-point total, active fine suspensions, and specified Highway Traffic Act and Criminal Code convictions, suspensions and reinstatements for the previous three years.
The record is not a complete lifetime history. If an employer, insurer or licensing authority requested a particular record, confirm the exact document they require before ordering.
How long do demerit points remain?
Ontario states that demerit points stay on a driving record for two years from the offence date. That differs from the three-year reporting window used for specified convictions, suspensions and reinstatements on the standard 3-year record.
Need a copy of your Ontario record?
If you need to review or provide your record, you can request an Ontario driver abstract through our Driver Abstract service. Confirm the record type requested by the organization receiving it before ordering.
For more detail, see our guide to demerit points and Ontario driver abstracts.
Key takeaway
Some out-of-province convictions can affect an Ontario driver’s record, but the rules depend on the jurisdiction and offence. A ticket itself should not automatically be treated as proof that a conviction or demerit points appear on the record.
Out-of-province convictions that count are given the same points as if they happened in Ontario. See the points for each offence in our Ontario demerit points table.
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