Traffic / Bylaw

Bylaw: The Municipal Government Act grants City Council the power to pass bylaws. Bylaws are created to address issues and concerns of the local community. They are created for reasons ranging such as environmental protection, or promoting public health and public safety. 

Conviction Set Aside: If you fail to dispute the charge against you or to appear in person or by agent in court, you may, if no more than 15 days have passed since the conviction first came to your attention, appear before a justice with an affidavit stating your reason for not appearing. If the justice is satisfied that your reason is reasonable, the justice shall set aside the conviction and give you a new notice of trial. 

Demerit Points 

Demerit points are recorded against a driver’s licence: 

• When a total of eight or more but less than 15 points have accumulated, you are mailed a courtesy notice of point standing. 

• When an accumulation of 15 or more points occurs within a two-year period, your licence is automatically suspended for one month. 

• When the suspension is the second demerit suspension within one year, your licence is suspended for three months. 

• When the suspension is the third (or more) demerit suspension within two years, your licence is suspended for six months. In addition, you may be required to appear before the Alberta Transportation Safety Board. 

• There is no remedy or appeal against a demerit point suspension, unless it can be proven the demerit points were assigned in error. You may request to review your driving record on these grounds by making a written submission to the Driver Fitness and Monitoring Branch. 

• When a demerit point suspension has been served, the licence is reinstated with seven demerit points against it. These points remain on your record until a period of two years from the assessed date has passed. 

• When two years have elapsed from the date of a conviction, the number of points assessed for that conviction are removed from your record. Remember, the date of conviction is the date that you actually pay your fine or are found guilty in absence, not the date that you received the fine. 

• If an approved defensive driving course has been successfully completed prior to accumulating 15 or more points, a maximum of three demerit points may be removed from a driving record once every two years. 

For more information, see the Alberta Transportation website. 

Disclosure: All the prosecutor’s evidence related to a case, such as witness statements and the notes of any police officer involved. 

Driver’s abstract: Your driver abstract can show the last 3, 5 or 10 years of your driving history. It will show you licence status as well as any infractions and demerit points. 

Traffic Safety Act and Regulations: In Alberta, the rules of the road are established by the Traffic Safety Act and Regulations. The Act deals with a variety of driving issues from driver training and driver examinations to demerit points.