Quick Facts

Drivers and Vehicles

• There are approximately 10.8 million registered vehicles (includes passenger vehicles, motorcycles, mopeds, commercial vehicles, buses, trailers, snow vehicles, and off road vehicles), 9.0 million drivers and approximately 85,000 bus and truck companies actively operating on our highways.
• There are approximately 1,302,939 trucks (of which approximately 257,000 are large trucks), 32,211 buses, and 578,229 commercially licensed bus and truck drivers registered in Ontario. Thousands more operate into Ontario from other jurisdictions.
• There are 55 driver examination centres, one commercial testing facility and 38 travel points (operated by Serco DES Inc, as DriveTest Centres).  
• Driver and vehicle services are also provided at approximately 270 privately owned driver and vehicle licence issuing offices across the province as well as ten government operated ServiceOntario locations.
• There are nine ServiceOntario locations offering Enhanced Driver's Licence services including Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Windsor, St. Catharines, Toronto Downtown, North York, Kingston, Cornwall and Ottawa.

Road User Safety

• In 2006, Ontario was the North American leader in road safety (0.87 fatalities per 10,000 licensed drivers).
• In 2006, the number of traffic fatalities on Ontario's roads increased to 769, the second lowest number of fatalities since 1948.
• Ontario recorded the lowest impaired driving offence rates per 100,000 population in Canada in 2006 - 39 per cent lower than the national average.
• The number of drinking and driving-related fatalities increased from 174 in 2005 to 190 in 2006, an increase of 9.2 per cent.  While Ontario has made progress over the longer term in reducing drinking and driving, alcohol-related crashes still account for almost 25 per cent of all fatalities on Ontario roads.  That is why, on May 1, 2009, the province introduced new escalating sanctions for drivers who blow between .05 and .08 blood alcohol concentration (BAC).
• Ontario was the first province to make seat belts mandatory and among the first to require that children be buckled up in child car seats or booster seats. 
• Ontario became the first jurisdiction in Canada to implement a Graduated Licensing System (GLS) for novice drivers in 1994. We are proposing new enhancements to that program – longer periods in G1 and G2 and escalating sanctions for repeat violations of novice driver conditions or convictions for offences carrying four or more demerit points.  We will also extend the zero BAC requirement to all drivers under age 22, regardless of licence class.
• On September 30, 2007, Ontario launched a new program to reduce street racing, stunt driving and extreme speeding.  Drivers caught by the police engaging in such behaviour face a seven-day vehicle impoundment and seven-day licence suspension, along with the highest fines in Canada if convicted. The OPP has indicated that the number of serious collisions and fatalities are down in the first three months of 2009 on roads they patrol when compared to the same period in 2008.  This includes an overall decrease of 5.5 per cent in the number of fatal collisions on OPP patrolled highways and is on top of a 29 per cent decrease in speed-related traffic fatalities on OPP patrolled highways in 2008, compared to the year before.
• In 1996, a new program for senior drivers was introduced in Ontario. In the period 1997-2006, Ontario's fatal collision involvement rate for drivers aged 80 and over decreased by 40.6 per cent, compared to the period before implementation of the new program (1988-1995).

Go Transit

• GO Transit carries nearly 55 million passengers annually which results in approximately 1.6 billion fewer kilometres of passenger car trips each year.
• Union Station serves at least 96 per cent of GO Transit's train passengers, while about 70 per cent of all bus passengers travel to and from the City of Toronto.

Provincial Highways Management

• There are over 16,500 kilometres of provincial highway. Placed end to end, Ontario's highways would span Canada twice.
• The Ministry of Transportation manages 2,800 bridges and structures, 29 remote airports and eight ferry services.
• Replacement value of Ontario's highways and bridges is approximately $57 billion.
• Annually, $1.2 trillion worth of goods are transported in Ontario, $238.5 billion of which pass over international bridge crossings linked to provincial highways.
• More than 90 per cent of all Ontarians reside within 10 km of the provincial highways. During the peak periods, about one third of the auto trips in Ontario use provincial highways.
• Asphalt pavement lasts an average of about 15 years before it needs resurfacing, if it's properly maintained.
• Bridges need to be thoroughly inspected every two years, rehabilitated every 20 to 30 years and completely replaced after 75 years. New bridges are designed to last at least 75 years without major rehabilitation.
• There are more than 180 COMPASS cameras in the province.

ServiceOntario Kiosks

Kiosks
Renew your licence plate sticker, buy a driver abstract and change your address on your driver’s licence, vehicle registration, Ontario health card and your Outdoors card.

Internet Services

Some of the services available on the Ministry of Transportation website or by direct link to ServiceOntario website are:

• Change of address - Driver's Licence, vehicle registration, Health Card, Outdoors Card
• Ordering plate validation renewal stickers
• Order a Used Vehicle Information Packages
• Order Own Choice Plates
• Purchase uncertified driver and vehicle abstract.
• Driver's Licence validity check
• Road Test Booking
• Vehicle history search
• Commercial vehicle operator public record
• Commercial vehicle operator driver record
• Carrier safety rating enquiry
• List of unsatisfactory /cancelled /excellent carriers.
• Real time traffic condition information for Highway 401 through Toronto and QEW through Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington and Hamilton
• Real time traffic incident information for the Greater Toronto Area and the Niagara peninsula
• Snapshots updated every few minutes from COMPASS cameras on highways in the Greater Toronto Area, Ottawa, and border crossing areas in Niagara, Windsor and Sarnia

Telephone Services

The following are some of the telephone services available:

• ServiceOntario, Transportation Info Line for road condition, road construction and general transportation-related information (1-800-268-4686 or 416-235-4686 in the Greater Toronto Area. TTY services available 1-800-471-8929 or in the Niagara Region 905-704-2426)
• ServiceOntario, Driver and Vehicle 24 hour Information Service (1-800-387-3445 or 416-235-2999 in the Greater Toronto Area)
• Road Test Booking (1-888-570-6110 or 416-325-8580)
• Driver's licence validity check (1-900-565-6555) – Available using a touch-tone phone (there is a $2.50 fee charge to your phone bill)

On a Typical Day

• 2,800 road tests are performed
• 10,000 phone and internet contacts
• 3,000 hits per day for Road Test Bookings
• 13,840 driver's licences are issued (including renewals)
• 420,000 vehicles use Highway 401 near Highway 400, making it one of the busiest sections of highway in North America
• GO Transit carries about 205,000 passengers