The Villager

In fact, I recently received an e-mail asking for clarification regarding the G2 drivers licence rule for carrying passengers as the law, admittedly, is a bit confusing. To clarify, the midnight to 5 a.m. restriction applies only to the carrying of teenage passengers. And it only applies to teenage G2 licence holders. All other G2 licence conditions are in force at all times for drivers of all ages, such as maintaining a zero alcohol level and not being the chaperone driver for a G1 licence holder.

The passenger condition states that teenage drivers who have had their G2 licence less than six months may carry passengers, however, of those passengers in the car, only one passenger can be of teenage years. All others must be over the age of 20. Once the teenager has more than six months at the G2 level, they are permitted to carry up to three teenaged passengers.

While there are always some circumstances that make laws such as this one inconvenient and there are some parents or guardians who find the restriction to be unreasonable, the spirit of the law was intended to deter acts of joyriding and overly aggressive driving behaviour, which all too often had tragic results.

As for the expiring licence sticker question, the plate renewal form is mailed by the ministry to the current registered address of the plate holder. Licence plates registered to a person will expire on that person's birthday and not at the end of the sticker month.

Vehicles not personally registered, such as fleet and company vehicles, will have the expiration date indicated on the renewal form. The fine for driving with an expired validation sticker is $110.

When turning in old licence plates to obtain new ones or if simply just cancelling a set that has been lying around in the basement for several years, plate owners must surrender both plates to the ministry office.

If only one plate is available for return, the owner must report the matching lost or stolen plate to the police and fill out a Replacement Declaration Form. The ministry does not permit keeping one plate as a souvenir.

And last, Ontario's Drive Clean program has changed recently and vehicles less than five years old do not require an emissions test unless they are a resale vehicle.

Vehicles that are five years or older will require an emissions test every two years in order to obtain a validation sticker. The easiest way to remember is 'odd-year' models require testing in 'even years', so a 1999, 2001 or 2003 model year vehicle will require an emission test in 2008 where the 2000 or 2002 model year car require an emission test in 2007 and another in 2009.