Impaired Driving - Driving While Impaired
Penalties and Consequences
Impaired Driving, Drive over 80 mgs, and Refuse Breath Test
Impaired Driving, Drive over 80 milligrams, and Refuse Breath Test and all DWI charges are all considered Criminal Offences under the Criminal Code of Canada.
- Considered seriously by the Canadian court system and by society in general, penalties for Impaired Driving and drinking and driving offences are severe and include mandatory drivers licence suspensions, fines, and jail terms for repeat offences.
- Upon conviction of any impaired driving or any Driving While Impaired offence charge a criminal conviction (criminal record) is registered and the accused is considered a criminal under Canadian Law. A criminal is subject to having their fingerprints and photograph taken and recorded for life with the RCMP and the Canadian Police Information Center (CPIC).
- Persons with Criminal Records may be refused entry into the United States, unbondable, and considered unsuitable for some types of jobs.
- A first conviction for an impaired driving or drinking and driving offence will result in a minimum fine of six hundred dollars and a mandatory driver’s licence suspension for one year. For a second conviction there is a mandatory fourteen days in jail.
- After obtaining a reading of over 80mgs of alcohol per 100ml of blood on a breathalyzer the accused’s driver’s licence will be suspended by the police for an immediate ninety days under the “Administrative Drivers Licence Suspension” (ADLS) program.
- The accused is suspended from driving any type of motor vehicle anywhere in Canada, at any time under any conditions. There is no conditional licence, the accused can not drive to work to home, or even drive for an emergency purpose.
- This suspension includes operating anything that is classified as a motor vehicle under the Criminal Code of Canada.
A motor vehicle is defined as anything drawn, propelled or driven by any means other than by muscular power. Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles, Farm Tractors and machinery, factory equipment and snowmobiles, even if the accused worked in a factory they are prohibited from driving any motorized machine with wheels.
There is no appeal or recourse for this suspension except where a person has been impersonated or was physically unable to give a breath sample due to a medical reason.
If the driver pleads not guilty to the charge after the ninety days have past and while awaiting trial the accused may apply to have their drivers licence reinstated and may drive until the trial date, only if they have plead not guilty.
Convicted impaired drivers are required by law to have an Ignition Interlock System installed at their cost in any vehicle they wish to drive. The Ignition Interlock System is an alcohol breath testing device that the driver must blow into to start the vehicle. As well while driving the vehicle the driver must provide periodic breath samples into the machine to ensure the drivers sobriety.
The instrument must be tested monthly at an approved center at the expense of the accused.
If convicted of a drinking and driving offence and to reinstate the drivers licence, convicted drivers are required to take the Ontario Ministry of Transportations “Back on Track” program. During this 11 month course the driver is required to attend classes, meet with doctors and psychologists to review their alcohol consumption, alcoholism and its relationship to driving.
The cost of this intensive driver’s licence reinstatement process from the Ministry of Transportation is approx three thousand dollars.
