The fine attached to a stop sign ticket is not the only penalty. A stop sign ticket has four different penalties:

• three demerit points
• fine of one hundred and ten dollars ($110.00)
• conviction registered on your driving record for three years
• insurance increases and determination of fault in accident cases

Where a driver is convicted of disobey stop sign, the traffic ticket will go on the driving record for three years including any demerit points.

Any moving violation on a driver’s abstract can affect your insurance rates.

The charge of disobey stop sign is listed in the Highway Traffic Act of Ontario section 136,1

Every driver or street car operator approaching a stop sign at an intersection shall,

• stop his or her vehicle or street car at a marked stop line or,
  • if none, then immediately before entering the nearest crosswalk or,
  • if none, then immediately before entering the intersection; and
• yield the right of way to traffic in the intersection or
  • approaching the intersection on another highway so closely
  • that to proceed would constitute an immediate hazard and,
  • having so yielded the right of way, may proceed.

The police and courts define a proper stop as “bringing the vehicle to a full and complete stop at the stop line”.

The police and courts define a stop sign violation as:

where the driver did not come to a “full and complete” stop at the stop sign.

Where the driver misses the stop sign or makes a “rolling or incomplete stop” the police officer may charge the driver with disobeying a stop sign.  The stop must be full and complete:

• at the stop line, or if none;
• crosswalk, or if none;
• immediately before entering the intersection.

Many times a “stop” can be something that happens momentarily or for just a second or so.

The Highway Traffic Act does not specify how long the stop must be, only that it must be a full and complete stop.

The perception of the officer may be different from the driver, or even the view point maybe obstructed.  Where the driver attends court and provides evidence to the court that is credible, the Justice may dismiss the charge.

During a trial a proper cross-examination of the police officer must be made.  This ensures that the officer actually did witness the driver fail to stop and that the police officer has covered all of the legal technicalities of a stop sign ticket.