(Taken from the Toronto Star: January 8, 2005)
DRIVERS, GET YOUR PAPERS
POLICE BLITZ FOCUSES ON VEHICLE DOCUMENTS
Keep your licence, ownership, insurance handy
Dale Anne Freed
Staff Reporter
“Project All in Order,” a seven-day police crackdown on motorists with improper licence, ownership and insurance documentation, begins Monday.
“Make it your New Year’s resolution” to keep documents pertaining to your vehicle in order and up to date and in your car, advises Toronto constable Stephen Burns, of traffic services.
"We’re starting off a new year. A lot of people are going to renew their validation stickers.
“We thought: Let’s get people thinking about their licence plates, their ownership and insurance.”
Your licence plate must be visible (no tinted covers that obscure the numbers, or serious rust); your validation sticker up to date and placed in the upper right corner of your plate.
And “make sure you have your ownership and insurance documents with you in the vehicle,” Burns says.
There’s a $90 penalty if: you don’t have your driver’s licence or ownership papers on you when stopped, or if your licence plates are obstructed. The penalty for not having a valid insurance card with you is $55.
If plates are rusty, police have the authority to seize them, said Burns.
"If you lose your plates, you’re looking at a tow bill. "
“So if you have to go and renew your validation sticker, just unscrew the licence plate, take it with you and they’ll issue you new ones right there on the spot.”
About 1.1 million motor vehicles are registered in Toronto and 8.5 million drivers are registered in Ontario, according to statistics for 2003, Burns says.
About 30,000 drivers in Ontario had their licence suspended in 2003 — 45 per cent of them because of unpaid fines.