Fined for fighting in Vancouver? Failing to pay could soon mean no driver’s license renewal
Posted February 27, 2019 3:54 pm.
Last Updated February 27, 2019 3:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Failing to pay a fine for fighting in Vancouver could soon lead to ICBC refusing to renew your car insurance or driver’s license.
It still needs approval from Victoria, but City Councillor Melissa De Genova hopes to have a policy in place by end of this year.
“It’s not going to be tolerated. It’s not going to be accepted here in the City of Vancouver. I think we heard that from the majority of councillors. Hopefully, the province will work with us. We have not found a way to enforce, and we can’t do it ourselves as a city.”
She doesn’t understand why such a policy doesn’t already exist, as people are actively pursued for not paying for parking.
“I was absolutely shocked to find out that the City of Vancouver was issuing bench warrants and people were being arrested for forgetting to plug the meters or maybe not paying their parking tickets. I’m not saying that’s okay. But that being said, even my 17-month-old daughter knows not to hit people. I think it’s ironic that people aren’t paying their fighting fines.”
She says just hiking the fine isn’t the solution. “Why would we increase a fine that we can’t enforce? That no one is paying?”
De Genova says out of 128 fines issued last year — mostly in the Granville Entertainment District — only 36 have been paid, and 70 per cent of the people ticketed for violence are from out of town.
“It’s not just about collecting the money from these tickets. It’s about sending a message to people that there will be consequences.”
