Ministry Of Transportation Driver Improvement Interview
Closed-caption enabledClosed-caption enabledTable of Contents1 Every year, Ontario issues some 100,000 driver’s licence suspensions for failure to pay fines for offences that can be as minor as low-level speeding, obstructed licence plates, or neglecting to signal, or more serious, such as driving without insurance or while suspended. While drivers are ultimately responsible for paying their fines, the Ministry of Transportation is responsible for notifying them that they have lost their privilege to drive, and what they can do to reinstate it. But thousands of drivers never receive these notices, or are confused by them. Unaware that their licences are invalid, they continue to drive, at considerable personal and financial risk – to themselves and others.2 My Office receives hundreds of complaints each year about the Ministry, most related to driver licensing.
Ministry Of Transportation Driver Improvement Interview
Sep 30, 2009 been driving for close to a year now, im 20 years old. I have my G2 liscense and it says below here if i have 6 demerit points my liscence MAY be suspended but i have to go through an interview. I use my car to go to work and college, i have no criminal record or speeding tickets. And 2 tickets i recieved was failing to stop at stop sign, and fail to yield which is 3 points each, adding up to. 3 BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure TELP interview questions and 3 interview reviews. Free interview details posted anonymously by BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure interview candidates.
Since 2014, we have closely monitored the Ministry’s administrative process for communicating with drivers about suspensions and reinstatements. Our work with Ministry officials in resolving these complaints resulted in incremental improvements in the notices sent to drivers.
However, we continued to receive complaints, and in May 2017, I informed the Ministry that I was launching a systemic investigation into the underlying issues. We received an additional 107 complaints after the investigation was announced.3 For Ontario drivers, the licence suspension process begins when a police officer tickets you for an offence, usually under the Highway Traffic Act. The ticket indicates you must pay the associated fine or contest the ticket to avoid further consequences. If you do nothing, the local provincial offences court convicts you and sends you a notice by mail. This notice informs you that that your licence “may” be suspended if you do not pay the fine by a certain date. If you don’t pay, the court orders the Ministry to suspend your licence, and the Ministry mails you notification of this fact.4 However, every year, thousands of suspension notices are returned to the Ministry as undeliverable. Some drivers only discover they are suspended when they attempt to renew their licences or vehicle plates.
Some find out through contact with police or insurance providers. Many unwittingly drive with suspended licences, sometimes for years. Driving while suspended can result in driving without insurance, which creates significant risks, not just for the driver but the public at large. Innocent third parties involved in accidents with suspended drivers may receive only limited compensation for their injuries.5 Mike, for example, made an illegal right-hand turn in Toronto in early 2011, while taking his mother, who was undergoing cancer treatment, to the hospital. Police issued him a ticket, and he later received a notice in the mail reminding him to pay the fine.
He decided to dispute the ticket, but his mother passed away and it slipped his mind.6 Two months later, Mike was involved in a car accident. At the scene, police checked his licence and informed him that it had been suspended that very day, for failure to pay the right-turn fine. Mike was stunned to learn of the suspension. The notice informing him of this fact was still in the mail.
The Ministry’s practice is to mail suspension notices for unpaid fines on the day they take effect, with no grace period. In Mike’s case, the notice wasn’t delivered to him until almost a week later.7 After his accident, Mike was faced with a $1-million lawsuit, and his insurance company wouldn’t defend him because his suspended licence invalidated his coverage.
Fortunately, he was able to obtain an extension of time to appeal his original driving offence fine. The court dismissed the charge and his insurance company defended the lawsuit.8 For most drivers, the consequences of not knowing of a suspended licence become worse with time. The longer your licence is suspended, the more difficult it becomes to regain your driving privilege.
Even once you pay your unpaid fine, your licence is still cancelled until you follow the required steps to have it reinstated. If your suspension has been for less than a year, you must pay a reinstatement fee. If it has been more than a year, you must also complete a vision test. If your licence has been invalid for three years or more, you are essentially treated as a new driver and must take the tests required by Ontario’s graduated licensing system.9 Our investigators spoke to several suspended drivers who paid their outstanding fines, but didn’t realize they were also required to pay a reinstatement fee. For instance, Darcy, a Carleton Place mother who relied heavily on her car, received a speeding ticket in May 2012. She initially forgot to pay the fine, but did so in September 2012.
It wasn’t until she moved to Ottawa in early 2016 and went to ServiceOntario to change the address on her driver’s licence that she learned it had been invalid for more than three years. In fact, it was suspended in August 2012 and then cancelled, because she failed to pay a reinstatement fee after she paid her fine.10 Darcy told us she never received any notices from the Ministry and had no idea she had to pay a reinstatement fee to get her licence back. She was astonished to be told that after driving for almost 30 years, she had to go through the same tests as a novice driver.
It cost her three days off work and hundreds of dollars in fees to regain her licence, all because of lapses in communication over a speeding ticket she had paid years earlier.11 We also found that even when drivers do receive notices about unpaid fines and resulting suspensions, they are often confounded by the content. The notices are confusing, complicated, and poorly formatted, and never actually state that failure to pay a fine will result in licence suspension.12 Yet when drivers try to raise concerns or questions about their suspensions with the Ministry and ServiceOntario, they often encounter poor customer service or a runaround. Sophie, who had gone without a licence for more three years because she couldn’t afford to pay a speeding fine, wasn’t told until after she paid the licence reinstatement fee that she would have to pay for additional tests to regain her licence. Pierre and Pablo were shunted from one office to another in search of answers about how their licences were suspended without their knowledge. We also learned that the Ministry does little to monitor and document these interactions or to ensure drivers are receiving consistent, accurate and clear information.13 My investigation concluded that the Ministry of Transportation’s administrative process for notifying and communicating with drivers about licence suspensions and reinstatements related to unpaid fines is unreasonable, unjust, and wrong under the Ombudsman Act.
This report makes 42 recommendations to address these serious issues.14 Drivers deserve clear, straightforward and timely notice that an unpaid fine will render their licences invalid. As a matter of fairness and road safety, the Ministry must do a better job of informing drivers of their status, rather than leaving them to be caught by surprise.15 As the accompanying chart illustrates, our Office routinely receives hundreds of complaints about the Ministry of Transportation per year, most of them related to driver licensing. Beginning in 2013-2014, we noticed a trend in complaints from drivers who said they had no idea their licences had been suspended for unpaid fines.Complaints received, April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2018 Fiscal yearTotal complaints about Ministry of TransportationComplaints about driver licensingComplaints about suspensions for unpaid fines2037534543370101.Includes complaints received in wake of investigation launch in May 2017.16 In response to these complaints, Ombudsman staff began to assess the Ministry’s notification process and identify issues. These issues and the Ministry’s progress in responding to them were noted in our Annual Reports.17 For instance, in 2013-2014, we pointed out to the Ministry that its notice advising drivers of additional steps they must take to reinstate their licences after paying their fines was called “Notice of Reinstatement.” Many mistakenly took this to mean their licences were valid. In response to concerns brought forward by our Office, in January 2015, the Ministry renamed it “Notice of Outstanding Licensing Requirements.” Although our Office hoped that this would eliminate some confusion, we still continued to see issues with this notice.18 The Ministry also conducted a four-week pilot project in July and August 2015 to study the impact of possible changes to the Notice of Suspension on the rate at which drivers paid fines and reinstatement fees. The study found that the alternative versions of the notice did not change drivers’ behaviour, and it did not result in any changes to the notice wording.19 In 2015-2016, we raised serious concerns with the Ministry about how it tracks the notices it mails out, in light of drivers’ complaints about not receiving them. The Ministry acknowledged that 4% to 5% of the mail it sent out was returned as undelivered, with approximately 1% relating to unpaid fine suspensions.
It pledged to study further improvements.20 We continued to receive similar complaints, and on March 31, 2017, the Toronto Star published a front-page story about the Ministry’s process for suspending and reinstating drivers’ licences, featuring James Strachan, who drove for four years with no knowledge that his licence had been suspended for an unpaid fine. The article attracted substantial attention, and other drivers who had similar experiences shared their stories in two follow-up articles.21 Despite the incremental improvements made by the Ministry over several years of working with our Office on this issue, the continued complaints and the response to the media stories demonstrated serious underlying issues. On May 24, 2017, I notified the Ministry of Transportation that I was launching an investigation into the adequacy and effectiveness of the Ministry’s administrative process for notifying and communicating with drivers about licence suspensions and reinstatements. That same day, I publicly announced the investigation and invited affected members of the public to contact my Office. Between May 24, 2017 and June 5, 2018, we received 107 complaints related to suspensions for unpaid fines.22 Although drivers can be suspended for several reasons, I chose to limit my investigation to suspensions resulting from unpaid fines. Other types of suspensions involve different administrative processes and raise distinct considerations: For instance, drivers suspended for certain Criminal Code offences receive notice by registered mail, while drivers suspended for medical reasons receive notices tailored to their specific circumstances.23 Investigators from our Special Ombudsman Response Team, assisted by members of our Legal team and one Early Resolution Officer, carried out the investigation.
In addition, a dedicated team of five Early Resolution Officers and investigators helped triage and follow up on individual complaints we received.24 Investigators reviewed thousands of pages of documents, including emails, driving records, service provider agreements, relevant policies, briefing notes, internal communications, and other information provided by the Ministry at my request. For the first time, investigators used e-Discovery software to organize and review the documents we received.25 The team also conducted 70 interviews with complainants, Ministry staff, and other stakeholders, including the Ministry of the Attorney General, Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, Treasury Board Secretariat and the Ontario Provincial Police (Highway Traffic Division), as well as municipal court administrators, insurance companies, Canada Post, stakeholder associations, and regulatory bodies such as the Financial Services Commission of Ontario. 72 When you apply for a driver’s licence, you must provide the street address of your residence.
You can also provide a separate mailing address. However, the Ministry always sends Notices of Suspension and Notices of Outstanding Licensing Requirements to residential addresses. Ministry officials told us the Highway Traffic Act requires that the Notice of Suspension be sent to a driver’s “latest current address,” which the Ministry has interpreted to be the driver’s residential address. The Act does not stipulate where the Notice of Outstanding Licensing Requirements is to be mailed.73 The Ministry is aware that this practice can be problematic for drivers who live at addresses that cannot receive mail – such as in some remote rural or northern communities. In such cases, the Ministry can record a residential address (e.g., 123 Main St) and a mailing address (e.g., PO Box 123) in the “residential address” field of its electronic records system, and address a notice to both locations.
However, this workaround doesn’t help drivers who provide a mailing address for some other reason, such as those who have more than one residence or move seasonally.74 The Ministry’s strict interpretation of the Highway Traffic Act as requiring it to send certain correspondence only to residential addresses is at odds with some drivers’ expectations that correspondence will go to their mailing address. Given the importance of notifying drivers of their licence status, the Ministry should ensure that all Notices of Suspension and Notices of Outstanding Licensing Requirements are sent to a driver’s preferred residential or mailing address.
Or, if the Ministry continues to interpret the Highway Traffic Act as requiring it to send notices to a driver’s residential address, it can still ensure drivers receive notification of their licence status by sending a second notice to their mailing address. If necessary, the Ministry and the Government of Ontario should seek legislative change to ensure that it has flexibility to contact drivers via the address of their preference. 75 Even when it works as intended, the Ministry’s system of mailing notices of suspension for unpaid fines is fundamentally flawed, because the notice is mailed the same day the suspension takes effect. Although drivers should have previously received an offence notice and Notice of Fine and Due Date warning of a possible suspension, the notice that tells them this has actually occurred is not sent to drivers in advance. There is a built-in time gap between the date of suspension and the delivery of the notice, when the driver has little way of knowing that they should not be driving.
The speed of mail service varies throughout the province, and can take several days for notices to reach their destination.76 This system has been in effect since October 1997. Prior to that, if you had an unpaid fine, the Ministry would send you a warning that your suspension was “pending” and would take effect in 21 days if your fine remained unpaid. If you paid in time, the suspension was dropped; if you failed to do so, your licence was suspended after 21 days, without further notice.77 Our investigators reviewed a Ministry briefing note from 1998 that said these notices of pending suspension prompted 30% to 50% of recipients to pay their defaulted fines and avoid suspension before the deadline.
Although not an exact comparison, only around 8% of drivers suspended for unpaid fines in 2016 paid their fines within 15 days of the suspension. This suggests that imposing a licence suspension does not motivate drivers to pay fines as effectively as giving them a last chance to do so within a limited period. Put another way, a deadline drivers know about appears more likely to ensure compliance than a penalty they don’t know about.78 Ministry officials we interviewed were unable to explain why the grace period was removed, given that it was two decades ago. Recommendation 3The Ministry of Transportation should take all necessary steps to provide drivers with specific advance notice of their impending suspensions, as well as information about the steps drivers must take to avoid suspension. The Ministry should ensure that the pre-suspension grace period is sufficient to allow time for the notice to arrive in the mail and for the driver to take steps to avert the suspension, if desired. The Ministry should seek any required amendments to the Highway Traffic Act to allow for a pre-suspension grace period. 92 Drivers are legally required to update their residential address within six days of moving.
They can change their addresses online or in person at a ServiceOntario Centre. Still, many forget or neglect to do so – as many of the drivers we interviewed acknowledged.93 The Ministry has taken some initiatives to remind drivers to update their address information, including some web-based advertisements. However, given the importance of accurate addresses, it should investigate additional ways to remind drivers to provide updates, and emphasize the potential consequences for not doing so, including through posters, public awareness commercials, highway signage, and other outreach methods. For instance, the Ministry could consider partnering with truck rental companies and other moving-related businesses to increase public awareness of the importance of changing the address on your driver’s licence within six days of moving to a new home.
94 The Ministry should also explore modernizing the methods it uses to notify drivers. Not only are email, text messages and other electronic forms of communication used by most drivers, personal electronic contact information typically doesn’t change when someone moves to a new address within the province. The Ministry should explore the feasibility of these communication methods as additional or alternative ways to contact drivers. It should also explore other mechanisms, such as an online portal that drivers could use to get real-time updates on the status of their licence.95 In conducting this review, the Ministry should consult with the Ontario Digital Service, which was created in 2017 to support the government’s efforts to become a leading digital organization.
The Ontario Digital Service works with ministries and other key partners to redesign government services around the needs of the end user.96 Digital communication is not a novel idea for the Ministry, which already allows drivers to sign up for email reminders to renew their vehicle plate validation stickers. As well, ServiceOntario already allows drivers to perform transactions online, such renewing licences, updating addresses, and paying driving fines and reinstatement fees. 97 Some drivers we interviewed suggested that the Ministry send out additional and/or periodic notices about suspended or cancelled licences, while others proposed they be sent by registered mail, with the recipient’s signature required upon delivery. However, our investigation found no evidence that either of these practices would be more effective. Sending additional notices or registered mail won’t help if the addresses are out of date or otherwise wrong. The Ministry does use registered mail to notify drivers of suspensions related to criminal convictions, as it is required to do by law, but this is more expensive than regular mail, and a significant percentage of these notices are still returned to the Ministry as undeliverable.98 Several of the Ministry officials we interviewed expressed the view that drivers are responsible for ensuring that their licences are valid. Some even suggested that drivers could visit ServiceOntario periodically to check their status.
It is unclear why any driver would think to do this. The Ministry has little to no proactive measures to educate drivers that their licence will be suspended for unpaid fines, much less to advise them that they should check their licence status just in case a suspension notice has failed to reach them.99 A senior policy advisor told us he wasn’t aware of any proactive initiatives to raise drivers’ awareness of the consequences of unpaid fines. He said the Ministry’s approach is “more reactive – that once you’re suspended, that’s where we communicate with you.” The Deputy Registrar also wasn’t aware of any educational materials published by the Ministry about suspensions for unpaid fines. In fact, no one was able to point us to any Ministry notices at municipal court houses or ServiceOntario locations, informing drivers of the consequences of not paying their driving fines.100 As Mike put it in his interview with our investigators: “There’s no way that I would think that something like non-payment should result in the suspension of my licence without my knowing it.”101 A court manager we interviewed sympathized with this view:A lot of the people who come through these courts are like you and I. They are just everyday folks. They happen to get a ticket one day.
Maybe they stuck it on their fridge and didn’t think much of it. They think it’s like a parking ticket. And then something serious happens to their licence. I’m not suggesting that they don’t have responsibility for that ticket. They absolutely have responsibility for that ticket.
Recommendation 10The Ministry of Transportation should work with its partner agencies to ensure that each organization’s website provides clear information about the unpaid fine suspension process.106 In addition, the Ministry could provide a way for drivers to check their own licence status that doesn’t involve visiting a ServiceOntario location, through a service that it already operates. The online “Driver’s Licence Check” tool is available on its website, at a cost of $2 per licence number, which indicates whether or not a driver’s licence is valid. At present, this is primarily used by rental car companies to ensure that renters have valid licences, but we were told that the Ministry is seeking to make it a free service for the public.107 I strongly support this initiative and recommend that the Ministry make the online status checker available to the public without charge. It should also promote the tool as part of its efforts to educate drivers about their obligation to pay fines and ensure their licences are valid. This initiative could raise drivers’ awareness of their obligations and avert more surprise licence suspensions. 108 Many drivers told us that even when they received the Ministry’s Notice of Suspension and Notice of Outstanding Licensing Requirements, the information in them and the way it is presented left them confused about the status of their licences and what, if anything, they had to do to reinstate them. Several said they would have done something to avoid suspension if they had received clearer notices.109 If your licence is suspended, you receive a Notice of Suspension by regular mail from the Ministry – a double-sided document set out in ALL CAPS, with English on the left side and French on the right.
The notice is crammed with information. The first paragraph refers to your licence suspension for non-payment, and the specific effect of suspension on enhanced drivers’ licences and some vehicle transactions. The next paragraph refers again to your suspension and that it might affect completion of some vehicle transactions. Recommendation 17The Ministry of Transportation should ensure that the Notice of Suspension proactively informs drivers about electronic resources that are available to help them understand and remedy their licence status.124 Many of the problems with the Notice of Suspension, including the density, confusing language, and poor formatting, also plague the Notice of Outstanding Licensing Requirements. After you pay your defaulted driving fine, you receive this notice to inform you of any additional steps you must take to regain a valid licence.
Driver Improvement Counsellor
The notice, which is also in ALL CAPS with English on one side and French on the other, comes in different versions, based on the driver’s particular circumstances.125 If you have paid your licence reinstatement fee and do not need to complete additional tests, you will receive a temporary driver’s licence and notification that your permanent licence will be mailed in due course. In this scenario, although there are no outstanding requirements, you still receive the “Notice of Outstanding Licensing Requirements.”126 When asked about this clearly confusing notice, a Branch Issues Advisor told us, frankly:I don’t know why an individual that has been reinstated is getting a document saying “Notice of Outstanding Licensing Requirements.” It causes them to call. They don’t read past the title127 As noted in our Office’s 2013-2014 Annual Report, Ombudsman staff first raised concerns about the confusing nature of this notice when it was called “Notice of Reinstatement.” At that time, it was sent to all drivers seeking reinstatement, including those who had completed all the requirements, and those who still had to pay fees or take tests, and were therefore not yet reinstated. For the latter group of drivers, the title was misleading, and in response, the Ministry changed it to “Notice of Outstanding Licensing Requirements.” However, it continued to send the same notice to both sets of drivers, essentially replacing one group’s confusion with another’s.128 Drivers deserve clear information about the status of their licences and should not have to call the Ministry or ServiceOntario after receiving ambiguous notices. The Ministry should create a new or renamed notice (e.g., Notice of Reinstatement) for drivers who have been reinstated and do not have any outstanding licensing requirements. The need for such a notice is likely to grow, given that drivers can now (as of May 2017) pay defaulted fines and reinstatement fees in one transaction via ServiceOntario, online or in person.
129 If you have to complete additional steps to obtain a valid licence, the version of the Notice of Outstanding Licensing Requirements that you receive lists what you have to do – e.g., pay your reinstatement fee, or retake certain driving tests. Nevertheless, many suspended drivers we spoke to had no idea that they were required to pay a reinstatement fee to regain their licences.130 In 2016, some 90,000 drivers paid the fines that led to their suspensions. However, about 40,000 of them – nearly half – had their licences cancelled because they failed to pay the required reinstatement fee, even though most of them presumably received the Notice of Outstanding Licensing Requirements from the Ministry. From June 2017 to June 2018, the number of drivers paying their reinstatement fee substantially improved, but roughly 14,000 drivers still had their licences cancelled because they failed to pay a reinstatement fee. The Ministry attributed this improvement to the introduction of the May 2017 system that allows drivers to pay most fines and reinstatement fees at ServiceOntario. However, it is quite possible that many of the 14,000 drivers who didn’t pay their reinstatement fees still have no idea that their licences are invalid.131 Notices sent by the Ministry should be straightforward and to the point, with important and relevant information in a prominent location.
You should not have to read fine print or flip to the back of the notice to understand the status of your licence and the steps you must take to continue driving. As with the Notice of Suspension, the Notice of Outstanding Licensing Requirements should be in plain language and provide clear information that is relevant to the driver’s particular situation. The Ministry should conduct a review of this notice to ensure that it is clear, drawing on internal and external experts in driver behaviour and accessibility.
132 If you pay your defaulted fine within 15 days of your licence suspension, your Notice of Outstanding Licensing Requirements arrives with a temporary driver’s licence attached – even if you have not paid your licence reinstatement fee. This situation can be particularly confusing. Your temporary licence is valid for 60 days from the suspension date. If you still do not pay your reinstatement fee within this period, your licence is cancelled, with no further notice. But unless you are vigilant in reading the notice and the small print on the temporary licence, you might not realize that you still owe the fee and your permanent licence is at risk.133 A Ministry official told us that drivers receive the temporary licence because they haven’t been provided sufficient notice that they must also pay a reinstatement fee.
Although this is a longstanding Ministry practice, there are no legislative or regulatory provisions that support it. To minimize the potential for confusion, notices that are sent with a 60-day temporary licence should include a prominent warning to drivers that their licence will be cancelled in 60 days if they don’t pay the reinstatement fee. Recommendation 21The Ministry of Transportation should ensure that when temporary licences are sent to drivers who have not yet paid their reinstatement fees, there is a clear and prominent warning that their licences will no longer be valid if they do not take additional steps within 60 days.134 The information that the notice contains about graduated licensing requirements can also be confusing for many drivers. It says that if your licence has been suspended or cancelled for more than three years, you must redo your road test, vision test and driving knowledge test.
It also indicates that after 10 years, the mandatory Graduated Licensing System periods will apply. These requirements are set out in Regulation 340/94, which governs the granting of driver’s licences.135 Designed to ensure novice drivers practice and are tested on their skills over time, the graduated licensing process normally takes about two years. There are three levels – G1, G2, and G, which is a regular licence. If you are a new driver, you must wait 12 months after obtaining your G1 licence before you can take the G1 road test (this can be reduced to eight months if you complete a government-approved driver education course). Once you pass that test, you obtain a G2 licence, but must wait another 12 months before taking the G2 road test, to obtain a full G licence.136 However, if you previously had a valid licence but it has been invalid for three to 10 years (in other words, you are not a new driver), you do not have to observe the waiting periods between tests. Several of the drivers we interviewed were not aware of this.137 The Ministry’s notice should explicitly inform drivers about whether or not the mandatory waiting periods for graduated licensing tests apply to them. The notice should also clearly state the date when the driver last held a valid licence, as well as when certain tests are required (e.g., after three years).
138 It came as a shock to some of the drivers we interviewed – including those who had never stopped driving, since they were unaware of their invalid licences – to be required to retake basic driving tests. But when they asked the Ministry for an exception, they were told there was no discretion to waive the requirement because it was mandated by regulation.139 Ministry officials told us that this regulatory requirement has been in place since the Graduated Licensing System was introduced in 1994. It is intended to ensure drivers continue to have the necessary knowledge and competencies to drive safely; someone who hasn’t had a valid licence in three or more years could have diminished driving skills.
The retesting requirements are consistent with other provinces’ practices, which require retesting after two to five years of invalidity. However, as the stories of several of the drivers who complained to us demonstrate, there can be extenuating circumstances behind a long-invalid licence; not all drivers in this situation are safety risks.140 While ensuring road safety is paramount, the Ministry should take steps to amend Regulation 340/94 to give its staff discretion to waive the graduated licensing requirements in extenuating circumstances. In exercising this discretion, the Ministry should create a fair process that takes into account whether the licence was invalid for administrative reasons (such as an unpaid reinstatement fee), and whether the person has continued driving with no risk to public safety. Recommendation 25The Ministry of Transportation should create a fair process regarding staff discretion to waive the graduated licensing requirements in extenuating circumstances. The process should take into account whether the licence in question was invalid for administrative reasons, such as an unpaid reinstatement fee, and whether the person has continued driving with no risk to public safety in the intervening period.141 Many Ministry officials we spoke to in the course of this investigation told us that they had little sympathy for drivers who failed to heed repeated warnings that their licences were going to be suspended.
But in fact, neither the Offence Notice (ticket) from the police, nor the Notice of Fine and Due Date from the court state that your licence will be suspended if you don’t pay the fine.142 The Offence Notice, in small print on the back, merely says:“if the fine goes into defaultyour driver’s licence may be suspended.” emphasis added143 The Notice of Fine and Due Date also says a failure to pay “ may” result in suspension and the imposition of a licence reinstatement fee. The next notice you receive informs you that your licence has been suspended. At no point in this process are you told you will be suspended for not paying your fine.144 Our investigators were told “may” is used because the same notices are used for all provincial offence fines, and there are some circumstances where a failure to pay would not result in a licence suspension.145 Other provinces have developed tailored notices that clearly warn drivers that their licences will be suspended for unpaid fines. New Brunswick, for instance, warns that if fines aren’t paid in 90 days, “the Registrar will revoke your licence and suspend your driving privileges until the fine is paid in full.” Saskatchewan also tells drivers that their licences “will be suspended” for failure to pay.146 Unfortunately, Ontario’s one-size-fits-all approach comes at the expense of clarity for the majority of drivers. Most provincial offences convictions are for offences under the Highway Traffic Act that will result in a licence suspension for failure to pay. The Ministry of Transportation should work with the Ministry of the Attorney General to explore the feasibility of drafting an Offence Notice and a Notice of Fine and Due Date for those offences that inform drivers that defaulted fines will result in licence suspension.
Recommendation 37The Ministry of Transportation should work with ServiceOntario to ensure that the recommendations I have made to improve the Ministry’s customer service are adopted by ServiceOntario locations and ServiceOntario’s Driver and Vehicle Contact Centre. If necessary, the Memorandum of Understanding between the organizations should be revised to reflect these requirements.197 I am hopeful that the ongoing initiatives by the Ministry, guided by my recommendations, will ensure that all drivers receive consistent, high quality service when seeking information about their suspensions for unpaid fines.
198 We also learned that the Ministry’s Driver Control section has no mechanism for tracking customer complaints or satisfaction.199 The Ministry told us its plan for a new phone system includes the ability to survey callers about the service they received. ServiceOntario already conducts client satisfaction surveys, and we were told that from April 2015 to March 2016, customer satisfaction was 90% (related to the broad array of services ServiceOntario provides, not just those related to driving).200 The Ministry, like ServiceOntario, should implement a system for monitoring customers’ satisfaction with the Driver Control section. 201 There is also no consistent mechanism for tracking complaints related to the Driver Control section. As a result, the Ministry struggled to provide my investigators with information about the volume or content of the complaints it receives about suspensions for unpaid fines.202 In fact, officials told us that until recently, it was common for Driver Control analysts to tell drivers who wished to make a complaint that they should do so by contacting their Member of Provincial Parliament or the Ontario Ombudsman, rather than escalating their concern within the Ministry. We were told that this was a strategy to keep calls brief, since analysts were assessed on their average call lengths.
However, Ministry officials told us that analysts are now encouraged to spend more time on each call to “actually try to help the driver,” a comment that suggests this might not have been the priority in the past.203 According to one manager we interviewed, many drivers who initially want to make a complaint are satisfied once they receive an explanation about the requirements for licence reinstatement. The Ministry also recently implemented a basic procedure for escalating calls internally if the driver is dissatisfied or requires further information, but it provides limited guidance about which calls should be escalated and how they should be documented.204 Without a method for consistently tracking complaints, the Ministry cannot accurately assess trends or identify areas for potential improvement. It should improve its method for identifying, documenting, and tracking complaints related to the Driver Control Section and the process for licence suspensions due to unpaid fines. It should also develop a comprehensive complaint policy and procedure. Recommendation 40The Ministry of Transportation should develop a comprehensive complaint policy and procedure that addresses situations where a person remains dissatisfied after speaking with a Driver Control analyst.205 The Ministry does not operate any type of “mystery shopper” program to audit the quality and accuracy of the service provided by Driver Control or ServiceOntario staff regarding suspensions for unpaid fines. An audit of this type – where an employee or contractor poses as a driver with a suspended licence – would provide the Ministry with valuable information how it could improve customer service. The Ministry already oversees and administers this type of quality assurance program with regard to enhanced drivers’ licences.
It should implement a similar program to audit information provided by Ministry or ServiceOntario staff to drivers regarding suspensions for unpaid fines. Recommendation 41The Ministry of Transportation should implement a mystery shopper program to audit information provided to drivers by Ministry or ServiceOntario staff regarding suspensions for unpaid fines.206 Driving is a privilege, not a right, but it is a privilege that many Ontarians consider essential. Particularly in remote areas of the province, driving can be a lifeline. Driver’s licence suspensions for unpaid driving fines can have severe practical consequences, not just for drivers but for anyone involved in an accident with a driver who is unknowingly unlicensed and potentially uninsured. When drivers do not receive adequate, effective and timely notice of licence suspensions, the consequences compound. They can be criminally charged for driving while suspended, lose their insurance coverage, and have to repeat the graduated licensing process.207 Drivers bear responsibility for meeting the legal requirements to maintain their driving privilege. However, they are entitled to clear and timely notification when that privilege is at risk or has been lost, and to straightforward information about the steps they must take to continue driving.208 My investigation found that the Ministry has failed to communicate adequately and effectively with drivers whose licences, due to unpaid fines, are at risk or have been suspended.
The Ministry does not provide drivers with clear advance notice that failing to pay a driving fine will result in licence suspension; they are only told suspension “may” result – until they receive a notice saying suspension is already in effect. For a variety of reasons – including issues with a mailing system that results in thousands of them being returned to the Ministry as undeliverable – many drivers never receive these notices at all. Many continue to drive illegally, sometimes for years, until they are pulled over by police, denied insurance, or refused a vehicle plate renewal.209 The notices themselves are also inadequate and ineffective. They are long, confusing, overcomplicated, and poorly formatted. And when drivers raise questions about the notices and the process that led to them, they often encounter poor customer service and a bureaucratic runaround.210 Although there are multiple agencies involved in the licence suspension and reinstatement process, it is the Ministry that has primary responsibility for administering driver’s licensing. It has failed to take the lead in ensuring that accurate, clear, comprehensive and consistent information is available to the driving public.
It has also failed to take sufficient steps to monitor the quality of customer service provided in this area.211 Accordingly, it is my opinion that the Ministry of Transportation’s administrative process for notifying and communicating with drivers about licence suspensions and reinstatements is unreasonable, unjust, and wrong under s. 21(1)(b) and (d) of the Ombudsman Act.212 I am committed to monitoring the Ministry’s efforts to address my concerns and to ensuring that concrete reparative action is taken.213 I make these recommendations with the aim of increasing public understanding of the process for licence suspension and reinstatement, reducing the number of Ontario drivers who are unwittingly driving without valid licences, and protecting the public from the potentially catastrophic consequences of having unknowingly suspended drivers on the road. Recommendation 3The Ministry of Transportation should take all necessary steps to provide drivers with specific advance notice of their impending suspensions, as well as information about the steps drivers must take to avoid suspension. The Ministry should ensure that the pre-suspension grace period is sufficient to allow time for the notice to arrive in the mail and for the driver to take steps to avert the suspension, if desired. The Ministry should seek any required amendments to the Highway Traffic Act to allow for a pre-suspension grace period.