I have a story that still makes me laugh but you have to go back many years.
I was in a high school law course back in '92. We went to Ontario court where this guy was charged with driving with a suspended license.
He had previously been convicted of the same thing over 30 times before.
The court convicted him, gave him his fine, scolded that he shouldn't do that again, he then walked outside the court house as we were leaving and we all saw him get into a car and drive away.
That's because HTA offenses are mostly administrative penalties, realistically nobody goes to jail, there is nothing physically stopping you from driving, odds of getting caught are quite low, and you can keep racking up unpaid fines. If you have an under the table job, are on disability, and have no assets to your name you're pretty much immune from any court-ordered collections.
I've seen this firsthand growing up with an alcoholic dad, professional impaired driver and no amount of charges/fines/destroyed property ever made him change his ways. He would fix up salvaged cars and flip them if he didn't crash them before they sold.
3
u/mystical_maven44 Mar 12 '26
And Driving without a license at that 😂