Making sure your vehicle is ready for winter isn’t the only thing drivers should be thinking about. Motorists who fail to have proper insurance and who drive with suspended licenses could suffer major consequences.

SGI announced their traffic safety spotlight for November will focus on suspended drivers and vehicles without proper registration.

Tyler McMurchy, media relations manager for SGI, explained that it is now quicker than ever for officers to check for the above violations. Automated license plate readers (ALPR’s) scan and check every single license plate they come across, elimitating the need for the officer to input the plate information manually, dramatically speeding up the process.

ALPR’s can determine if a vehicle is unregistered, owned by a suspended driver, reported stolen or otherwise flagged in some way, this information is immediately displayed for the officer to see and take action if necessary. Currently there are 138 enforcement vehicles equipped with ALPR’s with 18 more to be installed by March 2019.

If caught driving with a suspended licence, the consequences include potential Criminal Code charges, fines, jail time and vehicle seizures. Worse yet, if you are a repeat offender, the consequences increase whereas a second conviction could land you a three-year provincial suspension, 10 demerit points and another Criminal Code Conviction to add to the one from the first offence.

Drivers who choose to forego registering their vehicle will face a $580 fine and one demerit point in the Driver Improvement Program and repeat offences will result in a seven-day seizure.

McMurchy said that fines and convictions aren’t the only thing that illegal drivers may face. If a suspended driver or an unregistered vehicle is the cause of an accident, the damages sustained from all involved could be their financial responsibility as well.

He added that with the help of automated reminders through the SGI website, or through other apps and systems, it makes it easy to never miss a renewal and avoid the aforementioned consequences.

Last year there were 346 collisions, 173 injuries and one fatality involving suspended drivers or unregistered vehicles, additionally, 929 claims were denied for the same infractions.