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The Making Ontario’s Roads Safer Act will, according to the Toronto Star:

  • Increase fines for distracted driving from the current range of $60 to $500 to a range of $300 to $1,000, assign three demerit points upon conviction, and escalate sanctions for novice drivers who are convicted.
  • Apply current alcohol-impaired sanctions to drivers who are drug-impaired.
  • Require drivers to let pedestrians completely cross the road before proceeding at school crossings and pedestrian crossovers.
  • Increase fines and demerit points for drivers who “door” cyclists, and require all drivers to maintain a minimum distance of one metre when passing cyclists where possible, as well as allow cyclists to use the paved shoulders on unrestricted provincial highways.
  • Help municipalities collect unpaid fines by expanding licence plate denial for drivers who do not pay certain Provincial Offences Act fines.
  • Allow more qualified medical professionals to identify and report medically unfit drivers and, clarify the types of medical conditions to be reported.

The new fines and measures will come into force over the coming months, the transportation ministry says.

Read the full text of the bill here, or in PDF format here.