Digital_Cowboy

I'm not really sure which forum to post this in, so I'll put it here, if it needs to be somewhere else please move it.

To all of you Canadian drivers, when you're down here in The States driving. If you're driving in a state that puts points on a person's driver's license, what happens when you get home?

Tonight (Friday evening), as I was riding home (after having been harassed by a motorist) I happened upon a cop giving a driver a ticket for an accident that he had caused by violating the other drivers right-of-way.

It turns out that said driver was Canadian, and the cop explained that if he'd been a Florida driver that he'd have three points added to his license, but with the driver having been from Canada he wasn't sure how it would work.

So does anyone here know how it works?

Deathly Hallows

A Canadian driver who recieves a ticket while in the US will have demerit points added to his/her license, according to my province's drivers education handbook.

SweetLou

Really? That seems odd to me. What if something is illegal in the States but not in Canada?

Deathly Hallows

It's up to the driver to follow the laws in whatever jurisdiction he/she may be driving in (which is true for all legal matters; I can't travel to the US and commit a crime even if the same action would be legal in Canada). However, I don't think there's any significant differences between Canadian and American traffic safety regulations.

Altbark

I'm from Ontario. Ontario and New York State have an agreement with respect to vehicle violations in each others territory. If I get a speeding ticket while travelling in New York, I can eventually expect to see the appropriate demerit points on my Ontario driving record. That won't necessarily be the case in other provinces or states. Al

electrik

This is correct, their must be an agreement between that state and his home province in order to exchange demerit points.

Or say he violated a 3ft law, well there is no corresponding law here so any charge would not be reflected as such here. It's not so simple as appears.

He is still required to pay the fine, but really it only matters if he wants to keep a financial standing in Florida.

Deathly Hallows

According to CAA, if a Canadian driver has an unpaid fine in an American jurisdiction, that driver may be held at the border. If the fine does remain unpaid, that driver's license to drive in that particular jurisdiction will be revoked, and if pulled over again even years later, that driver can face arrest.

electrik

Sure, if one visits america regularly it is a good idea to pay your fines.

Digital_Cowboy

The gentleman in question apparently is/was a snowbird in that he spends half the year here in Florida and half the year up there in Canada. Obviously I do not now if he owns or rents his residence, but from what I was able to overhear as I said he spends half the year here and half up there.

So it's probably in his best interest to pay his fine.