Yes, if you receive a speeding ticket in British Columbia, Canada and are convicted of the offense you can receive demerit points on your Alberta, Canada driver's license if BC informs Alberta of the speeding offense within one year of the conviction date.

In Alberta, the demerit point system is used to maintain an accurate account of a driver's demeritable convictions on their driving record. Demerit points are assigned to a client's driving record in accordance with the Regulations under the Motor Vehicle Administration Act.

We contacted the Ministry of Service Alberta to find out for certain if moving violations from other Canadian provinces, or even the United States, would be placed on your Alberta driver's license and assigned demerit points. The representative stated that if you receive a conviction in any other Canadian jurisdiction, if the conviction information is forwarded to our office, and it is a demeritable offence, it will be added to your driving record and the appropriate demerit points will be assessed in accordance with the regulations under the Traffic Safety Act.

This will occur providing we receive the information within one year of the conviction date. However, if the conviction information is forwarded to our office and received after one year of the date of conviction, it will be added to your driving record and no demerit points will be assessed.

Service Alberta also told us that the current policy at Driver Fitness and Monitoring is that conviction information for traffic offences that an individual receives in the United States are not added to their Alberta driving record. However, legislation does exist in the Demerit Point Program and Service of Documents Regulation that permits the Registrar to record any demerit points that are assessed against a driver or are to be removed from a driving record.

Section 4(2) of this Regulation states the following:

(2) If a person is convicted of an offence under

(a) an enactment of another province or the Parliament of Canada, or

(b) an enactment of the United States of America or any state in the United States of America, that is, in the opinion of the Registrar, equivalent to a conviction of a demerit offence, the conviction in that other jurisdiction may be treated under this Regulation as if the conviction were a conviction for the equivalent demerit offence.

Service Alberta advised that if you do ever receive a ticket in the US to make certain you have satisfied the requirements of the jurisdiction within United States as they do not know if there would be problems should you travel there on some future date if you fail to take care of a US traffic ticket.

You should also be aware that in Alberta convictions will appear on your driving record for three years from the date of conviction, whereas, demerit points will be assessed to your driving record for a period of two years from the date of the conviction.

In Alberta speeding offenses can be worth 6, 4, 3 or 2 demerit points depending upon how many km/h over the limit you were convicted of going. There are ways in which to lower your points total. If an approved defensive driving course has been successfully completed prior to accumulating 15 or more points, a maximum of three demerit points may be removed from a driving record once every two years.

For more information contact Service Alberta through their website or by calling the Driver and Fitness and Monitoring division. In Edmonton the phone number to call is 780-427-8230 or in Alberta call toll free by dialing 310-0000 and then entering 780-427-8230.

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