On a full Ontario licence, zero plus six is a warning letter, three plus six can be an interview and nine plus six is a suspension, all under O. Reg. 339/94, the Demerit Point System. The six is the careless driving number. The first figure in each sum is yours, and the ticket cannot tell you what it is.
So this starts where the Ministry of Transportation starts, with what is already on your record. By the end you should be able to take your current total, add the careless driving demerit points Ontario records for a conviction, place the result on the right scale for your licence, and see when those points stop counting. One warning first: on a G1, G2, M1 or M2 licence the sum works very differently, and I explain why below.
None of this happens because of a charge. Points follow a conviction, and a charge is not one.
Find Your Own Number Before You Add Anything
Ontario's guide to understanding demerit points says points remain for two years, measured from the date of the offence. Your number is therefore the total from offences inside that window, not everything you have ever been convicted of.
The simplest way to see it is to order your own record. Ontario's page on getting a driving record lists the demerit point total as part of the 3-year driver record, which can be ordered online, in person or by mail. The driver's licence history is a different product and does not show points or convictions, so check which one you are buying.
Four things tend to throw off a driver's own count:
- Old convictions. That 3-year record shows convictions for three years, while points count for two. A conviction listed on it may be carrying no live points at all.
- Open tickets. Section 2(1) of the regulation records points when a person is convicted. A ticket still before the court adds nothing today, but it may add later, and those points would be dated back to when the offence happened.
- Offences outside Ontario. Section 4(1) lets the Registrar record points for an equivalent conviction in another province, territory or American state. Ontario's guide names New York and Michigan.
- Repeat phone convictions. A handheld conviction normally records three points, but section 2(2) records six where the offence came less than five years after a previous conviction under section 78 or 78.1 of the Act.
Our Ontario demerit point schedule lists every offence by its points, with the section for each, if you need to check what an old ticket was worth. Write your number down. Everything below depends on it.
The Careless Driving Demerit Points Ontario Records, and When It Records None
Item 2 of the Table to the regulation gives section 130 six points. Only two entries sit higher, at seven: leaving an accident scene and failing to stop for police. The offence itself is in the Highway Traffic Act at section 130(1), which covers a lack of due care and attention, or of reasonable consideration for others, and section 130(2) adds that on conviction the licence may be suspended for up to two years.
Six is the usual figure. It is not the only possible one:
- The conviction is under a different section. The number attaches to the provision of the conviction, not to the words on the original ticket. Following too closely records four points under item 15 of the Table, for example. Whether a charge can be resolved that way depends on the evidence and the prosecutor, and nobody can promise it.
- The court suspends the licence. Section 3(1) says no points are recorded where the penalty includes a licence suspension. Careless driving is not one of the listed exceptions. This is no favour. It means the court took the licence directly.
- Several convictions come from one event. Under section 3(2), where the penalty has no suspension, only the conviction with the most points counts. Careless driving and failing to signal from a single lane change would record six, not eight.
- The driver holds only novice classes. That has its own section below, and it matters more than any other item on this list.
The Two Scales Side by Side
Ontario has one scale for fully licensed drivers in sections 7 to 9 of O. Reg. 339/94 and a lower one for novice drivers in sections 15 to 17, and the table below sets out both as they stand in the consolidation in force since October 15, 2026.
| What happens | Fully licensed driver | Novice driver |
|---|---|---|
| Notice mailed by the Registrar | 6 to 8 points | 2 to 5 points |
| Interview may be required | 9 to 14 points | 6 to 8 points |
| Licence suspended after notice | 15 or more points | 9 or more points |
| Length of a first suspension | 30 days | 60 days |
| Length of a subsequent suspension | 6 months | 6 months |
| Total reduced on the suspension date to | 7 points | 4 points |
Each length is measured from the day the licence is surrendered, and the regulation caps the wait at two years after the suspension began. A suspension only counts as subsequent if the offence behind it happened no more than two years after an earlier suspension under the same section ended.
A Full Licence: What Six Does to Each Starting Total
Here is the sum for a fully licensed driver, assuming the existing points come from offences inside the same two-year period as the careless driving offence and that the court does not suspend the licence.
| Your total now | After six more | Where that lands |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 6 | Notice, section 7 |
| 1 or 2 | 7 or 8 | Notice, section 7 |
| 3 to 8 | 9 to 14 | Interview may be required, section 8 |
| 9 or more | 15 or more | Suspension after notice, section 9 |
The third row is the one that catches people. It takes only a single three point conviction, such as running a stop sign or a first handheld conviction, to move a driver from the letter to the interview range.
The Notice
At six to eight points the Registrar mails a notice setting out your total, to the most recent address on Ministry records. No suspension comes with it. Under section 7(2), a notice that never went out does not undo any later step, so an out-of-date address protects nobody.
The Interview
Ontario's guide describes this range as a second warning letter. The regulation goes further: under section 8(1), the Registrar can call an interview where you must show cause, with information or evidence, why you should keep the licence. The word is "may", so an interview is not automatic. If one is required, the burden has moved to you.
Section 56 of the Act allows these sessions to be held in person, by telephone or by other electronic means, and allows the Minister to charge a fee. Under section 8(2), the licence can be suspended or cancelled by the Minister where you do not attend, do not meet the Ministry's requirements afterward, or have not shown cause in the Minister's opinion. Any suspension at this stage has no fixed length: section 8(3) refers to the period the Minister considers advisable, up to two years after the suspension began.
The Suspension
At fifteen the language changes. Under section 9(1), the Registrar "shall" suspend after giving notice, and this is an administrative step rather than a court decision. On the suspension date, section 9(4) reduces your total to seven, keeping the points from the newest offences.
Ontario's guide says you may need to redo the vision, written and road tests to get the licence back. Because the clock runs from surrender, a licence that has not been handed in has not started serving its time. Driving during a suspension is its own charge, which we cover under driving under suspension.
G1 and G2: Why the Six Usually Never Lands
This is where the common explanation goes wrong. You may read that a G2 driver with a clean record goes straight to six points and into the interview range. I do not read the regulations that way for a driver who holds only novice classes.
Section 9 of O. Reg. 340/94, the Drivers' Licences regulation, says the Registrar shall, after notice, suspend a novice driver's licence for 30 days on a first conviction for a listed offence, suspend it for 90 days on a second, and cancel it on a third, and section 11(6) says that where this happens because of a four point or higher offence, no demerit points are recorded for that conviction.
Careless driving is on that list because section 9(3) includes any offence under the Act with four or more points in the Table, whether or not points were actually recorded. So for most novice drivers the question changes. It is not "what is my total plus six?" It is "how many listed convictions do I already have?"
Counting Your Step Instead of Your Points
- What counts as a step. Listed convictions include other offences worth four or more points, handheld and display screen offences under sections 78 and 78.1, and breaches of novice licence conditions, among others. A driver with one earlier handheld conviction would be looking at the second step, not the first.
- How steps are ordered. Section 9(5) looks only at the order of the convictions, not the order of the offences.
- When the ladder stops climbing. Under section 10(4), the second and third steps do not apply where the conviction is more than five years after the previous one.
- One event, one step. Under section 9(4), listed convictions from the same circumstances count once.
- What cancellation means. Section 11(4) requires the driver to reapply and be classed as a G1 or M1 without credit for time already earned, and section 11(5) says licence fees already paid are not refunded or credited.
Our guide for G1 and G2 drivers covers the licence conditions and how a suspension can delay a road test.
Your Novice Point Total Still Exists
The novice scale has not gone away. It still applies to the points you collect from convictions outside the program. Two speeding convictions at 16 to 29 km/h over, for instance, record three points each, which is six, and section 16 allows the Registrar to call an interview at that total. A careless driving conviction that triggers the 30-day suspension simply does not add to that number.
Zero points here is not a clean outcome. The conviction is still a conviction, the suspension is still a suspension, and a driving record lists both. If a court also imposes a suspension, section 11(2) runs the two together for any overlapping time.
M1, M2 and Mixed Licences
Motorcycle classes work the same way, and Ontario's guide also treats M1-L and M2-L as novice classes. The interesting cases are drivers with more than one class. The regulation counts points in a person's record, not separately by vehicle, so one conviction affects one total regardless of what you were driving.
| Licence held at the time of the offence | Point scale | What a careless driving conviction records |
|---|---|---|
| Full G or another full class, with no novice class | Full | Six points |
| G1 or G2 only | Novice | No points, and the 30 day, 90 day or cancellation step |
| M1 or M2 only | Novice | No points, and the 30 day, 90 day or cancellation step |
| G1 or G2, plus a full Class M | Full | Six points, no novice suspension step |
| M1 or M2, plus a full Class G or a Class A to F licence | Full | Six points, no novice suspension step |
| G2 and M2 together | Novice | No points, and the novice suspension step |
Two provisions do the work in that table. Section 18(1) of O. Reg. 339/94 applies the full scale where a driver holds one novice class and is fully licensed in another. Section 10(3) of O. Reg. 340/94 takes the conviction out of the novice program where a G1 or G2 holder also holds Class M, or an M1 or M2 holder also holds a Class A to G licence. The last row is my reading: neither class is full and section 10(3) does not name that pairing, so I see nothing that lifts the novice rules.
How Long the Six Points Count
Section 1(1) of O. Reg. 339/94 treats accumulated points as whatever comes from offences falling inside any two-year period, minus any deductions the regulation makes. Section 2(1) records them as of the date of the offence. Those two lines explain most of what confuses people.
Nothing resets once a year, and a record has no single expiry date. Each conviction runs on its own clock, so a total falls in stages. A driver whose six points come from an offence in February 2026, and whose three points come from an offence in September 2027, carries nine until the older points age out in February 2028, and then three.
Court time counts too. If that February 2026 offence does not reach a conviction until January 2027, the points still carry the February date, so roughly a year of their two is already gone by the time they appear. I mention this so the total makes sense, not as a plan. It can also work against you, because a late conviction may land beside other offences from the same period and lift a total you thought was settled.
The points ending is not the conviction ending. Insurers look at convictions on their own terms, so a lower point total does not by itself mean a lower premium. We add up that side of the cost, along with the fine range, in what careless driving costs over the years.
What Can Still Move the Number
Everything above assumes a conviction. Before one exists, the total is still only a forecast, and three stages can change it.
The decision to respond. Paying a ticket is a guilty plea, so a conviction and whatever comes with it follow from the payment. Our guide to thinking before you pay sets out the options and the time you have to choose. Whether you need to be there in person is covered in our article on going to court for careless driving.
The evidence. When I read a careless driving charge, I want to separate what the officer actually saw from what the officer concluded, and to know what the road, the weather and any other witnesses add. I cannot say what any court would do with that, and nobody honestly can. We set out more about how we approach the charge under careless driving defence.
An appeal. Under section 5 of O. Reg. 339/94, serving notice of an appeal on the Registrar keeps the conviction and its points off the record unless the appeal court upholds the conviction, and points already recorded come off, with any resulting suspension stayed from that date. There are deadlines and conditions, which our guide to traffic appeals explains.
One limit applies to all of this. Everything here concerns the provincial offence. If the paper in your hand says dangerous driving or impaired driving, that is a Criminal Code charge. We do not take those, and you need a criminal lawyer. Our page on dangerous versus careless driving explains the difference.
Send Us the Ticket and Your Number
This article explains how the system works, not what happens on your own record. For that, send us a photo of your ticket for a free, no-obligation review and a flat-fee quote, and tell us your current total and licence class. We charge one flat fee from start to finish. You can also walk in during business hours, book a weekend appointment, or call (905) 853-3430 or toll free 1-800-545-6471.
Frequently Asked Questions
I already have three points. What does careless driving do to me?
On a full licence, a careless driving conviction would take a three point total to nine, provided those three points come from an offence inside the same two-year period. Under O. Reg. 339/94, section 8, nine to fourteen points is the range where an interview may be required. The licence is not automatically suspended at that point, but it may be if the driver skips the interview or does not show cause.
Does a G2 driver actually get six points for careless driving?
Usually not. For a driver who holds only novice classes, section 9 of O. Reg. 340/94 requires a suspension or cancellation on a careless driving conviction: 30 days for a first listed conviction, 90 days for a second, and cancellation on a third. Section 11(6) then says no demerit points are recorded for that conviction. The conviction itself still exists on the driving record and can still matter to an insurer.
When do the six points stop counting against my licence?
They count for two years after the offence date, according to Ontario's guide to demerit points. The date of the driving matters, not the date of conviction, since O. Reg. 339/94 dates the points to the commission of the offence. Each conviction runs on its own clock, so a total can drop in stages. The conviction can remain visible on a driving record after the points stop counting.
Can one careless driving ticket cost me my full licence?
It can, in two ways. The Highway Traffic Act, at section 130(2), lets a court add a licence suspension of up to two years on conviction, although no points are then recorded. Separately, six points can push an existing total to fifteen or more, which requires a suspension under O. Reg. 339/94, section 9. A driver starting from zero reaches only the warning notice range through points alone.
I have a full G and an M2. Which rules apply to me?
The full licence rules apply to your point total. Section 18(1) of O. Reg. 339/94 applies the fully licensed scale to a driver who holds one novice class and is fully licensed in another. Section 10(3) of O. Reg. 340/94 also takes a careless driving conviction out of the novice suspension program if you held both classes at the time of the offence. Six points would be recorded.
