Ontario speed limits, speeding tickets and stunt driving

Speed limits when there’s no sign

A posted sign always wins. Where there isn’t one, Ontario’s defaults apply:

A limit is the most you’re allowed to drive, not a target. In rain, snow, fog or heavy traffic, the safe speed is lower.

The new 110 km/h highways near Hamilton

Ontario has been raising highway limits from 100 to 110 km/h. After the latest round, finished in September 2026, about 89% of the provincial highways that used to be 100 km/h are now 110. Around Hamilton:

• QEW east of Stoney Creek: 110 km/h from Millen Road toward Niagara.
• QEW from Burlington to Oakville: 110 km/h from the Freeman interchange to Highway 403, since September 30, 2026.
• QEW over the Burlington Skyway (between Freeman and Millen Road): still 100 km/h.
• Highway 403 through Hamilton and Burlington: 100 or 90 km/h.
• Highway 403 west of Ancaster toward Brantford: 110 km/h.

City roads set their own limits. The Red Hill Valley Parkway, for example, is posted at 80 km/h for most of its length. Whatever you read here, the sign in front of you is the rule.

What a speeding ticket costs

The fine on a speeding ticket depends on how far over the limit you were:

Every ticket also adds $5 in costs and a victim fine surcharge that grows with the fine. Worked out from the official tables, that makes:

• 15 km/h over: about $52.50 in total
• 20 km/h over: about $95
• 35 km/h over: about $265

Those are the amounts on the ticket. If you go to court and lose, the fines on conviction are higher, and at 50 km/h or more over, the court can also suspend your licence for up to 30 days.

Community safety, construction and school zones

• Community safety zones: speeding fines double during the hours and days posted on the signs.
• Construction zones: speeding fines double when workers are present.
• School zones: there’s no single provincial school zone limit; cities set them. Hamilton has been lowering residential and collector streets to 40 km/h, with 30 km/h in school zones on those streets. School zones on Hamilton’s main roads get flashing 40 km/h signs during school hours.

Demerit points for speeding

Points count for two years from the date of the offence. The demerit points guide explains what happens as they add up.

If you’re on a G1 or G2

New drivers reach consequences much sooner:

• Any conviction worth 4 or more points, which includes speeding 30 km/h or more over, brings a licence suspension: 30 days the first time, 90 days the second, and cancellation the third. A cancelled licence means starting over at G1.
• Points add up faster to a warning: a G1 or G2 driver gets a warning letter at 2 points and a 60-day suspension at 9.

Stunt driving: where speeding becomes something else

In Ontario, it’s stunt driving to drive:

• 40 km/h or more over the limit where the limit is under 80 km/h
• 50 km/h or more over where the limit is 80 km/h or more
• 150 km/h or more, anywhere

Deliberately cutting off another car, blocking someone from passing, and following dangerously close can count as stunt driving too, and the rules apply in parking lots as well as on roads.

At the roadside

Police suspend your licence for 30 days on the spot, and the car is impounded for 14 days at the owner’s cost, even if it isn’t yours.

If you’re convicted

• A fine of $2,000 to $10,000, and up to six months in jail
• 6 demerit points and a mandatory driver improvement course
• A licence suspension of at least 1 year for a first conviction, at least 3 years for a second, and an indefinite suspension for a third. Since January 1, 2026, these suspensions apply automatically.

Speed cameras and red light cameras in Hamilton

• Speed cameras are gone. Ontario banned municipal speed cameras as of November 14, 2025, and Hamilton’s stopped that day. Camera tickets for speeding before that date still have to be paid.
• Red light cameras are still running. In Hamilton, a red light camera ticket totals $325 and goes to the vehicle’s plate holder, whoever was driving. Camera tickets carry no demerit points. A red light ticket from a police officer is 3 points.

Got a ticket in Hamilton? Your options

You have 15 days to choose one:

1. Pay it. Paying counts as pleading guilty, so the conviction and any demerit points go on your record.
2. Ask for an early resolution meeting with a prosecutor, by audio, video or in person.
3. Ask for a trial.

If you do nothing, you can be convicted without a hearing. Hamilton’s tickets are handled by the City’s Provincial Offences Administration at 50 Main Street East. Its page explains how to pay or dispute online, by mail or in person.

Tickets and insurance

Your driving record is one of the things insurers use to set your rate, and ontario.ca warns that convictions for aggressive, careless or stunt driving can bring a substantial increase, or make you uninsurable. Your 3-year driver record lists convictions for three years, longer than demerit points count.

Habits that keep you under the limit

• Check your speedometer every time you check your mirrors.
• Look for a new limit sign after every turn onto a different road.
• Slow down before you enter a school zone or community safety zone, not once you’re in it.
• On a highway, keep pace with the right lane rather than the fastest car around you.