If you have just been charged with a drinking and driving offence, guard and control or refusing to comply with a peace officer’s orders, it is essential to consult a criminal lawyer as soon as possible to protect your rights.
Drinking and driving records are very serious and can lead to serious consequences, such as loss of a licence, a criminal record and even imprisonment in some cases.
Impairment by alcohol
To be guilty of alcohol-impaired driving, the blood alcohol level must be above the legal limit. This limit is currently 80 milligrams of alcohol per hundred milliliters of blood. Thus, a person who, while driving or two hours after stopping driving a vehicle, has an alcohol level above this limit, will be guilty of this offence.
Drug-impaired abilities
The same principle applies to drugs (including medications). A person’s ability to drive will be impaired if the person has a concentration of a drug in his or her blood that exceeds the limit set out in the regulations for the type of drug he or she has consumed.
For example, for cannabis, the limit is 2 nanograms per milliliter of blood. For harder drugs such as cocaine or methamphetamine, only their presence in the blood will be sufficient for an offence.
Impairment by alcohol and drugs
Also, a person will be guilty of such an offence if the alcohol and drug levels, combined together, exceed the limit provided for this purpose. In this case, the limit of 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, in addition to a THC level of 2.5 nanograms/ml of blood, must be exceeded if the drug in question is cannabis.
Impaired capacity without exceeding legal limits
It is important to note that impairment offences also include situations where a person’s ability to drive is impaired by alcohol, drugs or both, but does not necessarily exceed the limits permitted by law.
Indeed, we are talking here about the ability to drive as such, which can be reduced because of fatigue or stress, in addition to alcohol or drugs. For example, someone who drives a vehicle with a level of 40 mg of alcohol/100 ml of blood, combined with other factors, could be convicted of impaired driving. Generally, police officers note the following symptoms in an impaired capacity record: an odor of alcohol from the breath, red or glassy eyes, a staggering gait or loss of balance, and difficulty speaking.
Taking medications that make you drowsy could also cause your ability to drive to be impaired.
Finally, a person can be charged when he holds a driver’s licence with a tolerance of 0.
Care or control
Similarly, it is important to note that for both alcohol and drugs, a person who has the care or control of a vehicle with a blood alcohol level above the legal limit or while impaired, without even driving it, may be guilty of an impaired driving offence. We are talking about an intoxicated person who sits in a motor vehicle in the driver’s seat.
The Boudreault case is an example of this. In this case, the accused, drunk, is sitting in a vehicle waiting for the driver designated to drive. Since there is a realistic risk here that he will set the vehicle in motion and pose a danger to others, he will be found guilty of the offence of keeping or controlling a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol level above the legal limit.
Indeed, if the prosecution’s evidence reveals actions that involve the use of the vehicle or its accessories in such a way that there is a certain risk of setting it in motion, you could be convicted of this offence.
Accusation of refusal
In addition, if you are stopped, a police officer will ask you to provide a breath sample with an approved roadside screening device to check if you are intoxicated. In addition, a blood sample or movement coordination assessment may also be requested depending on the circumstances of the case.
If you refuse without reasonable excuse to take the required test, you could be charged with a more serious offence than impaired driving.
Sentences
The consequences of being convicted of the impaired driving offence can be very significant. You could be fined a minimum of $1,000 and banned from driving for a first offence, and even jailed, if the facts are serious.
For example, a person who had a higher concentration of alcohol or drugs in their blood, as well as a person who is on their second or third impaired driving offence, as well as the aggravating circumstances of the incident, such as bodily harm or death, will receive a more severe penalty. including jail time, a multi-year driving ban, and a lifetime alcohol ignition interlock device in your vehicle.
Defending yourself with the help of a criminal lawyer
Impaired capacity cases are often highly technical. Only a criminal lawyer specializing in drinking and driving will be able to properly analyze the strengths and weaknesses of your case and prepare a solid defence against the Crown. Even if you believe you have no chance of being acquitted, your constitutional rights may have been violated.
The police have certain powers during arrest to test you for alcohol. However, they also have duties and obligations, because there are constitutional rights guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. An experienced criminal lawyer will check in the evidence of the prosecution whether the procedures, deadlines, as well as your various rights, such as the right to a lawyer, have been respected.
If one or more of your fundamental rights have been violated in connection with your detention or arrest, our lawyer will prepare a Canadian Charter motion to have incriminating evidence, such as blood alcohol levels, excluded from trial. This may lead to the acquittal of the charge of impaired driving.
Contact Lambert Avocats without delay if you are accused of driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs to protect your rights.