Toronto DUI Level Change

During the 1990s, charges of DUI, or impaired driving, in Toronto decreased. Some groups, such as Toronto MADD, believe this change was because of increased education among teenagers about the dangers of driving impaired by either alcohol or drugs. As the millennium dawned, however, the rates of drunken driving began to increase in Toronto. For that reason, officials and activists in Toronto believed the city needed some changes to their DUI/impaired driving laws.

Official Level for Impaired Driving

The official level for someone to be considered drunk legally is .08. The standard until about a decade ago in Canada and the United States was .1 as the legal limit. After viewing research, political leaders in many areas realized that lowering the legal limit to .08 would cut down significantly on the numbers of people killed in drunk driving accidents. Indeed, Toronto MADD argues that up to 40 percent of vehicular fatalities involve alcohol or drugs on some level.

In Toronto, if someone blows a .08 on a breath exam, that person automatically can be charged with impaired driving. There are other ways for someone to be charged with being intoxicated or high while driving, which many people don’t know. In fact, the law in Toronto allows for someone to be charged with DUI when that person is at .04 or higher.

Lowered Levels Still May Be Intoxication

The burden of proof falls onto the police officer for people who breathe .04 to .079. The officer must use other methods to show that the person being pulled over is impaired despite that person’s blood alcohol level (BAL) being below the legal limit. This impairment must challenge the person’s ability to drive a car. Police officers may see this difference first because of swerving while driving, and then the officer may find the person cannot walk straight or perform simple recitation. In this case, the officer has the right to arrest the driver for impaired driving despite not hitting the .08 BAL.

Punishment for Lower Level Impaired Driving

For people who land just above the legal limit in Toronto for impaired driving, the first line of police action is to suspend the license for a 12-hour period. Twenty-four hour license suspensions also are possible. During this time, the accused must have someone come to get him or her or the person must stay in police custody.

These punishments come before more long-term actions, such as suspending the license for a longer period of time or the levying of fines. These punishments typically are for repeat offenders. Though the legal community in Toronto has taken some steps to curb drunk driving, such as the lowering of the legal limit to .08, some activists argue that these limits and punishments should be made even tougher. Whether that happens will depend in large part on whether the rate of accidents from drunken driving decrease from lowered limits and more police discretion. Determining the best place to put the legal limit for such issues often requires some trial and error to get the best results.

Tags: DUI lawyer

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 14th, 2009 at 9:31 am and is filed under DUI lawyer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.