The toll for driving with no insurance comes with costly consequences.
A Sault Ste. Marie woman learned that Thursday when she appeared in a local courtroom to deal with charges stemming from a May 10 incident.
Stacey Raymer was behind the wheel when her minivan crashed into a ditch on Fourth Line West.
When officers arrived shortly after midnight, they discovered that the driver, who had exited the vehicle through the passenger door, was a suspended driver.
Raymer, 38, had been suspended on Sept. 13, 2019 because of unpaid fines, prosecutor Robert Skeggs said.
Her vehicle also had no insurance, Ontario Court Justice Romuald Kwolek heard.
She pleaded guilty to careless driving, getting behind the wheel with no insurance, and driving while suspended.
The Crown called for the mandatory $5,000 minimum fine for the insurance offence, and $1,000 financial penalties for each of the other offences.
Defence lawyer Alireza Pazuki agreed with the proposed sentence.
He told Kwolek his client, an Algoma Steel employee, was going through “a difficult separation at the time that took a toll on her.”
Raymer faces “significant consequences, significant fines and surcharges, and loss of her licence,” he said.
Pazuki said his client has provided him with $1,300 in trust to go towards the fines.
He asked the court to give Raymer 12 months to pay the rest of the fines.
Raymer admitted she had made some “very poor decisions” that night and shouldn't have been driving.
“I regret them,” she told Kwolek.
Noting her mitigating "quick pleas," the judge also called the circumstances aggravating.
Raymer, a suspended driver, was involved in an accident, drove into a ditch and had no insurance, he said.
She was "putting others at risk, including financially."
The fines are a significant amount, but Raymer has good employment at Algoma which will allow her to pay them, he said.
In addition to the $1,000 penalty for careless driving, he imposed a 12-month probation order under the Provincial Offences Act.
During that time, Raymer is not to occupy the driver's seat of a vehicle.
Kwolek gave her two years to pay the $7,000 in fines and any added surcharges.
Driving without insurance is not a criminal offence in Canada, but is one under the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act of Ontario.
A first conviction comes with costly consequences: a fine of not less than $5,000 and not more than $25,000.
Second offence financial penalties start at $10,000, and can be as high as $50,000.
Additional fees under the Provincial Offences Act can tack on further surcharges.