Christopher Sutton acquired a new licence plate sticker – despite the fact he
had a drunk driving conviction and one-year driver’s licence suspension.
Sutton was killed when he crashed his Alero (above) after a night of drinking on
Wolfe Island earlier this month.
There is no law, no restriction and no process that prevented Christopher Sutton
from getting a new licence plate sticker this spring for his Pontiac Alero.
With it, he continued to drive his sleek, silver sedan – until he killed
himself.
The 27-year-old’s conviction in February for drunk driving didn’t stop him.
The one-year suspension of his driver’s licence didn’t stop him.
His own conscience didn’t stop him.
Near midnight on June 15, Sutton was behind the wheel of his car after a night
of drinking on Wolfe Island.
He was heading east on Highway 96 at 11th Line Road when he failed to make a
curve. The car left the road and rolled several times before stopping in the
tall grass on the north side of the road.
Sutton was thrown from the vehicle and later pronounced dead.
Remarkably, his case isn’t unusual, thanks to a legal loophole that the case
exemplifies.
It means there may be thousands of Ontarians driving around in legally licensed
and insured vehicles, although those drivers don’t have valid driver’s
licences.
Though the Ministry of Transportation requires proof of insurance and the
payment of all parking tickets before new plate validation stickers are issued,
a valid driver’s licence isn’t necessary.
“There is no provision under the [Ontario] Highway Traffic Act to deny
ownership or remove ownership of vehicle plates from individuals who do not have
a valid driver’s licence – the provision doesn’t exist,” said ministry
spokeswoman Emna Dhahak.
She also said that the ministry doesn’t forward drunk driving conviction
information to insurance companies.
It’s left up to the drunk drivers themselves to inform their insurance
companies of their conviction.
It’s not known if Sutton had valid insurance.
In February, a Kingston judge banned him from driving for a year and fined him
$1,000 for getting behind the wheel drunk.
In Ontario, drunk drivers convicted of their first offence have their licence
automatically suspended for one year.
At the time of conviction, they surrender their licence to the court and then
it’s forwarded to the Ministry of Transportation so that the person would be
registered as a suspended driver.
Every year, about 35,000 Ontarians have their driver’s licences suspended for
Criminal Code convictions.
An estimated three-quarters of those convictions are related to drinking and
driving, according to the ministry.
There’s no way of gauging how many of those suspended drivers continue to
drive.
Kingston Police Sgt. Charles Boyles said officers could use more tools to track
drivers who ignore driving bans.
“If you reduce the opportunity at which people can engage in the activity or
if you increase the perception of the likelihood that they’re going to get
caught, they’re less likely to engage in that activity,” he said.
“The problem is that the temptation is because of the geographic size of our
city and of the country, the temptation to drive will always be there. So the
question in the person’s mind will be, ‘Will I be caught?’ ”
One solution, he said, is the issuance of a special plate for convicted drunk
drivers – a step that is being considered in New York state.
New York lawmakers are proposing special licence plates for repeat drunk drivers
that would help police and would allow them to stop cars without further cause.
Critics say the licence plates would be a sort of scarlet letter for convicted
drunk drivers.
“It could be a nice bright plate that says, ‘The owner of this vehicle is a
drunk driver,’ ” said Boyles.
“There’s a bunch of different ways of looking at it – whether you say
tongue-in-cheek, ‘Well maybe you need a bumper sticker that says caution,
convicted drunk driver on board.’ ”
Boyles said new legislation that aims to put more restrictions on convicted
drunk drivers would come down to whatever steps the public demands.
Police in Ontario have the authority to impound a vehicle if officers catch
someone driving while under suspension for a Criminal Code offence.
Boyles said he conducted an informal survey in Kingston a couple of years ago
that involved officers attending court to witness the conviction of drunk
drivers and then following them outside the courthouse to see if they
immediately complied with the suspension that had just been imposed.
Many got into their cars to drive and they were re-arrested.
“We have people who plead [guilty] and the next thing you know they’re going
right back to their cars,” he said.
It happens in Kingston and in cities across Ontario, he said.
“We’ve got to do the best job possible to do our part to ensure that people
are compliant with their suspensions,” he said.
Boyles said officers know there are those people out there who continue to drive
after they’ve had their licence suspended, but police departments generally
don’t have the resources to track these drivers.
“We know these persons are suspended and now it’s a matter of having the
horsepower to then do the follow-up and check up on these fellows and see what
they’re up to – what they do week to week,” he said. “You end up doing a
lot of surveillance.
“More can always be done, that goes without saying. But at the end of the day,
it comes down to having the officers available to focus on those issues. Unless
a person is physically stopped and checked to make sure they are playing within
the rules, like any other crime, then it may go unnoticed by the public and by
the police.”
Hazel Huneault, founder of King-ston’s Mother’s Against Drunk Driving, was
surprised to hear that convicted drunk drivers are permitted to register their
own vehicles while their licence is suspended.
“If that’s the case, there needs to be some delving in to find out why that
is happening and make the necessary changes,” she said. “
She isn’t sure whether restricting licence plate renewal for drivers under
suspension would prevent drivers like Sutton from getting behind the wheel.
“But I really don’t think personally that would have stopped somebody like
[Sutton],” she said. “It’s a deterrent for most of us, but there’s
people out there who are going to do it anyway … It’s a mentality that
frustrates me and [one] that I don’t understand.”
She’s concerned that without a system in place to track convicted drunk
drivers, they can continue driving until they’re caught by police – or until
they’re involved in a crash like Sutton.
“They just don’t get the message,” she said. “So he’s basically
snubbed his finger up to the law and said ‘The hell with you, I’m going to
drive anyway.’ And he’s ended up taking his own life.
“I think it’s tragic and I feel deeply for the family, but on the other
hand, it’s better than killing an innocent person.”
Christopher Sutton’s family didn’t return calls from The Whig this week.