NEWS: Tougher Impaired Driving Laws Coming Into Force

Tougher Impaired Driving Laws Coming Into Force. The provisions on impaired driving came into force giving police better tools to detect and investigate drug impaired driving. This also means that drivers caught under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs will now:

• Face a maximum life sentence if they cause death, and a maximum 10-year sentence if they cause bodily harm, when their blood alcohol concentration is over 80.
• Be charged with a criminal offence if they refuse or fail to comply with a demand to provide for physical sobriety tests or bodily fluid samples.
• Find it more difficult to get off on such stories as “I only had two beers.”
• Face tougher mandatory penalties such as:
  • $1000 for a first offence;
  • a sentence of 30 days in jail for a second offence;
  • a sentence of 120 days in jail for a third offence.
• Face a higher maximum penalty on summary conviction of 18 months compared to 6 months previously. The five-year maximum, where the prosecution proceeds by indictment, remains.

“There is no excuse for driving impaired, and through the summer months we are urging Canadians to make plans to travel safely to and from holiday parties and family get-togethers. MADD Canada wants everyone to remember to drive sober when on the roads or waterways,” said Margaret Miller, National President of MADD Canada.

http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/news-nouv/nr-cp/2008/doc_32272.html