Stricter laws include lower limit
Stricter impaired driving laws include a lower legal limit for drunk drivers that will “definitely” result in more charges being laid across the country, says a Yarmouth criminal lawyer.
“It will certainly help enhance the government’s objective to deter and or take drunk drivers off the road,” said Phil Star, who handles about 100 drunk driving cases a year. “I’m not saying that’s bad, but the amount of charges will definitely increase.”
The legal limit used to be 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. Alcohol readings of 81 and above constituted drunk driving.
But with the introduction of Bill C-46, which came into effect last month, the Criminal Code now says that a blood alcohol reading of 80 mg per 100 ml constitutes alcohol-impaired driving.
Star says that represents a significant change because traditionally officers were lenient with borderline breathalyzer results. Readings in the range of 80 to 89 mg per 100 ml would be rounded to the lowest 10. In this case that would be 80, putting the reading at the legal limit.
The new legislation requires officers to round to the lowest 10, meaning anything between Justice centres and courtrooms throughout the province will likely see more impaired driving charges as a result of changes to what blood alcohol reading constitutes alcohol-impaired driving.
80 to 89 mg per 100 ml constitutes drunk driving, a criminal offence.
“So now 79 is basically the legal limit and as far as I’m concerned the legal limit has fallen by 10 points because anywhere from 80 to 89 is considered drunk driving under the Criminal Code,” he said. “It will make people basically criminally liable for something that before Bill C-46 they would not be criminally liable for.”
Star said in past years police would seldom even lay a drunk driving charge for breathylzer readings below 100 mg. That’s because the courts would generally call into question the accuracy and reliability of readings below that threshold. The new legislation helps address the ambiguity, said Star.
“With this and the other legislative changes that have come with Bill C-46 they have made the ability of criminal defence
lawyers to successfully defend impaired driving related charges much more difficult.”
Saltwire Network spoke to a retired Nova Scotia RCMP officer who said he supported the legislative change and also believes it will lead to more drunk driving charges being laid. The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity because he’s still affiliated with the RCMP.
“Generally, we didn’t charge unless people showed readings of 100 mg or above, but that was officer discretion, that wasn’t the law,” he said. “Defence lawyers understood that was the case. They never saw anything go before the court unless it was 100 or above. Now they’re likely to see them at 80 mg and above. You’ll see lower readings with charges now.”
He says no one with an 80 mg reading should be operating a motor vehicle.
“When I took a breathalyzer course I drank five (bottles of beer) in one hour and the highest I blew was 80. I was not in any shape to drive a car. Tolerance or no tolerance, at 80, no matter how you cut it you’re impaired.”
Nova Scotia RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Jennifer Clarke couldn’t immediately say whether the new law has resulted in more drunk driving charges in the province. She said it would take time to see the effect of the legislative change.
Susan MacAskill, chapter services manager for Mothers Against Drunk Driving in the Atlantic region, called the move a victory for the organization that has pushed for the legal limit to be reduced to 50 mg per 100 ml.
“MADD Canada is very pleased that there will be a tightening up of this range,” said MacAskill. “A fail is a fail. This has been a questionable area for so long and the scientific evidence shows that a person can become impaired with a level of alcohol in their system between 20 and 40 mg.”