Mounties in Grande Prairie are reminding motorists to check their driver’s licence and vehicle registration expiry dates after an uptick in violations around the region.
Constable Lindsay Ralph says it’s vital to check when to re-register a vehicle, as you could be driving without valid documents without even realizing it.
“It does happen because they’re documents we just leave in our vehicle,” she says.
“So, sometimes we forget to check what those expiry dates are, especially as we no longer have stickers on our license plates.”
Cst. Ralph says, as always, a licence is valid from one to five years, depending on the class, and expires on your birthday, while the month your plate expires is based on the first letter of your last name. She says while stickers were still required on the plate, they acted as a nice reminder for drivers, but it’s of the utmost importance to make sure all of your documents are in order before getting behind the wheel.
“It’s important to remind drivers to check those documents periodically to make sure they don’t get into a sticky situation, because if they get pulled over unfortunately and it was expired because the onus is on the driver,” she says. “There is a violation ticket, so you certainly wouldn’t want to get a ticket because you forgot to look at the document and it accidentally went over.”
The minimum fine for driving with an expired registration is $230.