The number of people convicted of driving with expired vehicle registrations jumped after the Newfoundland and Labrador government stopped mailing out renewal reminders, with fines spiking more than 25 per cent in the latter half of 2018.

The government stopped sending out reminders May 1, 2018, as a cost-cutting measure. Following that, from July to December 2018 there were 1,509 people convicted of driving with expired registration, according to Service NL data.

That equals about 300 more convictions than the average for the same time period of the previous four years, totalling a 25.7 per cent increase.

That also means an increase in cash.

At $250 a ticket, drivers forked out about $77,000 more in convictions than the previous four-year average for those same months.

That money goes to the provincial government.

(CBC)

Driver had 'absolutely no idea'

Dan Meades of Mount Pearl received one of those tickets, and a big surprise, last August.

"When the constable pulled me over, I really had absolutely no idea," said Dan Meades.

"I had been in Florida for almost three months when all the announcements and that were made."

In the second half of last year, each individual month hit a five-year high for convictions, save October.

And October 2018 missed that mark by the slimmest of margins: with 231 convictions, it was just one incident off the month's five-year high of 232, set in 2016.

Dan Meades of Mount Pearl got a ticket for driving with expired registration, but the ticket was tossed. (Jonny Hodder/CBC)

Meades wasn't among those convictions; the same day he was ticketed, he renewed his registration. When he went to court to contest his ticket, he learned it had been dismissed, and presumes it's because the date of his ticket and the date of his renewal were the same.

"The courts must have needed some sort of documentation to prove that my car wasn't registered," he said.

"So when they got in touch with Motor Vehicle Registration and asked them, 'Did Dan Meades have his Toyota Prius registered on such and such a day,' I did."

'Honest people'

After his ticket, Meades started looking for expired stickers in parking lots, and sticking notes under people's windshields to let them know.

He's since signed up to receive an emailed renewal reminder from the province, and he thinks people will get used to the new system.

(CBC)

But he also said the provincial government didn't provide enough notice, and he's not surprised convictions spiked.

"I think most of the people who got the tickets were honest people. They weren't running red lights and they weren't sailing through stop signs," said Meades,

Service N.L. declined CBC's request for an interview about the data, citing the election campaign and noting the government's policy that the minister is the spokesperson for the department.

A communications official offered a written statement, which CBC declined.

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