BrokerExamSource
Highway Traffic Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8 (section subset)
Two sections only: who is liable for negligent driving, owner and lessee included, and who carries the burden of proof when a claim is made.
- Cited as
- Highway Traffic Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8 (section subset)
- Currency
- Consolidated from July 1, 2026 to the e-Laws currency date
- e-Laws current to
- August 26, 2026
- Sections
- 2
- Official copy
- ontario.ca e-Laws
Only part of this instrument is here
This page carries sections 192-193. Everything outside those boundaries was not ingested and is not searchable here. Read it on the official copy linked above.
This Act runs past a million characters and governs everything about driving in Ontario, from licence classes to window tint. Two of its sections decide who pays after a collision, and those are the two the corpus carries. In scope. s. 192, liability for loss or damage, which makes the driver liable for negligence in the operation of a motor vehicle and then puts the same liability on the owner and on a lessee, unless the vehicle was in someone else's possession without their consent. That is the vicarious liability which puts an owner's policy behind a driver who does not own the car. And s. 193, the onus of disproving negligence, which reverses the ordinary burden of proof onto the owner, driver, lessee or operator, together with the two cases s. 193 (2) takes back out of the reversal: a collision between motor vehicles, and an action by a passenger for injuries sustained as a passenger. Out of scope and not searchable here: the whole of the rest of the Act. That includes the rules of the road, licensing and suspensions, equipment standards, the offences and their fines, and the demerit point system. Any question about those has to be read on e-Laws, not in this file.
Reproduced from Ontario's e-Laws. The official version is the one linked above. Nothing has been added to the text, and nothing inside the boundaries stated on this page has been left out.
Part XI Civil Proceedings
Section 192§Sections Liability for loss or damage
(1) The driver of a motor vehicle or street car is liable for loss or damage sustained by any person by reason of negligence in the operation of the motor vehicle or street car on a highway. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 2.
Same
(2) The owner of a motor vehicle or street car is liable for loss or damage sustained by any person by reason of negligence in the operation of the motor vehicle or street car on a highway, unless the motor vehicle or street car was without the owner’s consent in the possession of some person other than the owner or the owner’s chauffeur. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 2.
Same
(3) A lessee of a motor vehicle or street car is liable for loss or damage sustained by any person by reason of negligence in the operation of the motor vehicle or street car on a highway, unless the motor vehicle or street car was without the lessee’s consent in the possession of some person other than the lessee or the lessee’s chauffeur. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 2.
Consent of lessee
(4) Where a motor vehicle is leased, the consent of the lessee to the operation or possession of the motor vehicle by some person other than the lessee shall, for the purposes of subsection (2), be deemed to be the consent of the owner of the motor vehicle. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 2.
Liability of operator of commercial motor vehicle
(5) In addition to any liability of an owner or lessee incurred under subsection (2) or (3), the operator of a commercial motor vehicle is liable for loss or damage sustained by any person by reason of negligence in the operation of the commercial motor vehicle on a highway. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 2; 2014, c. 9, Sched. 2, s. 43.
Joint and several liability
(6) The driver, owner, lessee and operator that are liable under this section are jointly and severally liable. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 2.
Application
(7) This section applies where the loss or damage was sustained on or after the day section 2 of Schedule 10 to the Budget Measures Act, 2005 (No. 2) comes into force. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 2.
Same
(8) This section, as it read immediately before the day section 2 of Schedule 10 to the Budget Measures Act, 2005 (No. 2) comes into force, continues to apply where the loss or damage was sustained before that day. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 2.
Section 193§Sections Onus of disproving negligence
(1) When loss or damage is sustained by any person by reason of a motor vehicle on a highway, the onus of proof that the loss or damage did not arise through the negligence or improper conduct of the owner, driver, lessee or operator of the motor vehicle is upon the owner, driver, lessee or operator of the motor vehicle. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 3.
Application
(2) This section does not apply in cases of a collision between motor vehicles or to an action brought by a passenger in a motor vehicle in respect of any injuries sustained while a passenger. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 3.
Same
(3) This section applies where the loss or damage was sustained on or after the day section 3 of Schedule 10 to the Budget Measures Act, 2005 (No. 2) comes into force. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 3.
Same
(4) This section, as it read immediately before the day section 3 of Schedule 10 to the Budget Measures Act, 2005 (No. 2) comes into force, continues to apply where the loss or damage was sustained before that day. 2005, c. 31, Sched. 10, s. 3.
Definition
(5) In this section,
“motor vehicle” includes a street car. 2014, c. 9, Sched. 2, s. 44.