Provincial Driving Offences (13:VI)
A. Stopping for a Peace Officer
It is an offence for a person driving or in charge of a motor vehicle on a highway to refuse or fail to stop when signalled or asked by a uniformed peace officer (MVA s 73(1)). If asked, the driver must:
- a) provide his or her name and address as well as the name and address of the owner of the vehicle (MVA s 73(2));
- b) produce or exhibit the motor vehicle license plate (MVA s 71); and
- c) produce his or her driver’s license and the motor vehicle liability insurance card or financial responsibility card (MVA s 33(1)).
Under MVA s 70(1)(b), it is an offence to refuse or fail to produce a driver’s license, permit, certificate, or motor vehicle liability insurance card when asked by a peace officer or constable.
B. Driver’s Licenses
It is an offence for an individual to drive or operate a motor vehicle without a valid and subsisting driver’s license or to drive or operate a motor vehicle of a category other than a category designated under the individual’s license (MVA s 24(1)). The license may be subject to any restriction the Superintendent deems necessary for safety reasons (MVA s 25(12)). It is an offence to violate these restrictions (MVA s 5(15)). Failure to satisfy an examiner of competence to drive safely will lead to the suspension or cancellation of the driver’s license by the Superintendent (MVA s 92).
If a driver’ s license is lost, a duplicate will be issued. The original, if found, must be surrendered (MVA s 33(3)). A driver must produce his or her license when so asked by a peace officer (MVA s 33). If a driver has a valid license, but is unable to produce it when asked, that person will receive two fines under Schedule 3 of the VTAFR: a)failure to produce a driver’ s license (MVA s 33(1)) – $56 if paid within 30 days, otherwise $81; and b)driving without a valid license (MVA s 24(1)) –$251 if paid within 30 days, otherwise $276. The fine for driving without a valid license will be dropped if the driver proves he or she had a valid license at that time. Under the MVA, it is an offence to make a false statement when applying for or renewing a driver’ s license (s 69(1)(a)), to give number plates to another person (s 69(1)(b)), or to give your driver’ s license to another person (s 69(1)(c)). Under MVA s 70(1)(a), it is an offence to use another’ s license or a fictitious or invalid driver’ s license. Under s 70(2), any person who commits an offence under s 70(1)(a) is liable for a fine between $100 and $2,000 and/or imprisonment for a period between seven days and six months.