Bill 38 explained in plain English
Highway Traffic Amendment Act (Roadside Assistance Vehicles), 2012
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 40th Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 38 of 2012 requires drivers to exercise more caution around roadside assistance vehicles, similar to how they approach emergency vehicles, and defines new rules for these roadside assistance vehicles.
This bill, known as the Highway Traffic Amendment Act (Roadside Assistance Vehicles), 2012, amends the Highway Traffic Act. It introduces new rules regarding roadside assistance vehicles, requiring drivers to slow down and proceed with caution when approaching them under specific circumstances. It also defines what constitutes a "roadside assistance vehicle" and sets out rules for the use of amber warning lights on such vehicles.
- Defines "roadside assistance vehicle" to include tow trucks and other vehicles equipped to remove or provide minor service/repair to disabled vehicles on the highway.
- Requires tow trucks to be equipped with one or more intermittently flashing amber warning lights, with at least one permanently mounted and visible from 100 metres.
- Allows other roadside assistance vehicles to have similar amber warning lights, visible from 100 metres.
- Specifies when tow trucks and other roadside assistance vehicles may use their amber warning lights.
- Amends the requirement for drivers to slow down and proceed with caution when approaching stopped vehicles.
- Extends the requirement to slow down and proceed with caution to include roadside assistance vehicles when their amber lights are flashing.
- Requires drivers in adjacent lanes to move over when safe if approaching a stopped roadside assistance vehicle on a highway with multiple lanes.
- Clarifies that police department vehicles may have red and blue lights, or amber lights, but no other vehicles can have red and blue lights facing forward.
- Drivers of motor vehicles
- Drivers and operators of tow trucks
- Operators of other roadside assistance vehicles
- Drivers of emergency vehicles
- Drivers of police department vehicles
- Drivers must slow down and proceed with caution when approaching a stopped roadside assistance vehicle with flashing amber lights.
- Drivers on multi-lane highways must move over if safe when approaching a stopped roadside assistance vehicle.
- Roadside assistance vehicles (including tow trucks) must be equipped with specific types of amber warning lights.
- There are restrictions on when roadside assistance vehicles can use their amber warning lights.
- This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The bill text does not specify any penalties for non-compliance with these new rules.
- The exact definition of "minor repair" in the definition of roadside assistance vehicle is not detailed.
- The bill does not explicitly state how the requirement for amber lights to be "clearly visible from all directions for a distance of at least 100 metres" will be enforced or measured.
This is the primary law that is being changed by this bill. The bill adds a definition, amends existing sections, and adds new subsections related to roadside assistance vehicles and the use of warning lights.
Source: Various sections including Section 1 (1), Section 62, and Section 159 (2) and (3)
Adds a definition for "roadside assistance vehicle".
Source: Section 1
Adds new rules about lamps on tow trucks and other roadside assistance vehicles, specifies when these amber warning lights can be used, and clarifies lighting for police vehicles.
Source: Section 2 (1)
The previous restriction on front lights for vehicles other than police vehicles is replaced with a clearer statement that only police vehicles can have red and blue lights facing forward, while other vehicles cannot.
Source: Section 2 (2)
Changes the rules for drivers approaching stopped vehicles. Drivers must now slow down and proceed with caution when approaching roadside assistance vehicles with flashing amber lights, similar to the existing requirement for emergency vehicles. In multi-lane highways, drivers in adjacent lanes must move over if safe.
Source: Section 3
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced