Ottawa police have reminded drivers to renew their vehicle license plate stickers and said officers will soon begin issuing $110 fines for expired plates.
Though the Ontario government has scrapped the license plate renewal fees and stickers for passenger vehicles, owners of vehicles must still renew their plates.
Presently, the Ottawa Police Service has 5 Automatic License Plate Recognition vehicles in the fleet, which helps police discover stolen license plates, misuse of plates, unlicensed drivers and expired license plate stickers.
While talking to CTV News, Sgt. Robert Cairns said: “A lot of my officers have come in to me, voicing their concerns that people aren’t renewing their plate stickers.
“I witnessed this firsthand on Friday, Saturday night of last week when I took the ALPR out and noticed that literally hundreds of people aren’t renewing their vehicle stickers.”
The government of Ontario cancelled the fees and stickers in March, saying the cancellation would save drivers $120 every year. The province said vehicle owners would still need to renew their license plates.
Vehicle owners can renew their license plates through Service Ontario online, by mail or in-person. According to Cairns, the government of Ontario included a notice for continued renewal of the license plate in the envelope with the license plate sticker refunds.
Cairns said: “I suggest they re-read that letter. It’s very concerning that people, being very blunt, are either very lazy or ignorant as to their requirement to renew their plates.”
While Cairns says he saw “hundreds” of vehicles with expired license plates, the Ottawa Police Service is not issuing fines for expired license plates for now.
Cairns said: “I could have had thousands and thousands of dollars in fines the other night. There will come a time where (drivers) will start getting stopped by Ottawa police officers and issued a $110 fine for not having their plates renewed.”
“We could actually do it right away, but I’m basically giving people another opportunity now. I’m getting more information out, I’m asking them again that they do have an obligation to renew their plates. If that falls upon deaf ears then we will start enforcing the legislation.”
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