BC New Impaired Driving Law

Ear­lier today, Solic­i­tor Gen­eral and Min­is­ter of Pub­lic Safety Michael de Jong intro­duced Canada’s most severe impaired dri­ving penal­ties to save lives, curb repeat offend­ers and give police more enforce­ment tools. The new law will come into effect in Fall 2010.

This change to our Motor Vechi­cle Act was due to a lobby ini­tia­tive by Moth­ers Against Drunk Dri­ving after the daugh­ter of Lau­ren and Michael Mid­de­laer, Alexa, was killed by an alleged drunk dri­ver in Delta two years ago.

Accord­ing to the Office of the Super­in­ten­dent of Motor Vehi­cles, impaired Dri­ving is on the rise. In B.C., it kills over 100 peo­ple and injures more than 3,000 each year. Every one of these tragedies is entirely preventable.

“Despite increased enforce­ment and sig­nif­i­cant efforts to pro­mote aware­ness, we’ve begun to see a rise in impaired dri­ving across British Colum­bia,” said de Jong. “That trend is unac­cept­able and that’s why we’re bring­ing in these new laws: to get impaired dri­vers off the road with clear, swift and severe penalties.”

Min­is­ter Michael de Jong announced that he will reduce alcohol-impaired dri­ving fatal­i­ties by 35 per cent by the end of the 2013.

Changes to the Motor Vehi­cle Act

You will only have to worry about the Motor Vehi­cle Act if:

• BAC is between 0.05% and 0.08%;
• BAC is higher than 0.08%; or
• refuse to pro­vide a breath sample.

If your breath sam­ple is above 0.08% BAC or refuse to pro­vide a breath sam­ple will receive:

• Imme­di­ate 90-day dri­ving ban by los­ing your license;
• You will have to pay a $500 fine plus $250 dri­ver license rein­state­ment fee;
• Vehi­cle impounded for 30 days plus you are respon­si­ble for the tow­ing and stor­age fees;
• To regain your dri­ving priv­i­leges, you will have to com­plete the Respon­si­ble Dri­vers Pro­gram and have to use an Igni­tion Inter­lock Device when­ever you drive, for one full year, fol­low­ing your dri­ving suspension;
• Crim­i­nal charges under the Crim­i­nal Code of Canada.

If your breath sam­ple is between 0.05% and 0.08% BAC, you will be in the “warn” range. Research shows that dri­ving with a BAC in that range means a dri­ver is seven times more likely to be in a fatal crash than if they have no alco­hol in their body.

• First Time
  • 3-day dri­ving ban by los­ing your license. You will need to pay $250 to rein­state the license;
  • You will need to pay a $200 fine;
  • Vehi­cle impounded for 3 days plus you are respon­si­ble for the tow­ing and stor­age fees.
• Sec­ond Time
  • 7-day ban by los­ing your license. You will need to pay $250 to rein­state the license;
  • You will need to pay a $300 fine;
  • Vehi­cle impounded for 7 days plus you are respon­si­ble for the tow­ing and stor­age fees.
• Third Time
  • 30-day ban by los­ing your license. You will need to pay $250 to rein­state the license;
  • You will need to pay a $400 fine;
  • Vehi­cle impounded for 30 days plus you are respon­si­ble for the tow­ing and stor­age fees.

In addi­tion, dri­vers who blow once in the “fail” range, or three times within five years in the “warn” range, will be required to par­tic­i­pate in the reha­bil­i­ta­tive Respon­si­ble Dri­ver Pro­gram. They must also use an igni­tion inter­lock device, which tests a driver’s breath for alco­hol every time they oper­ate their vehi­cle, for one year.

If you cur­rently have an L or N, exist­ing penal­ties will apply. If the new dri­ver blows at least a 0.05% in BAC, the penal­i­ties above will apply. In addi­tion, new dri­vers who blow between 0.00% and 0.05% in BAC will receive:

• 12-hour imme­di­ate road­side License Sus­pen­sion (24-hour for Drugs).
• Dri­ver is trig­gered into a review through the Super­in­ten­dent of Motor Vehi­cles that will gen­er­ate fur­ther dri­ving prohibitions.
• Driver’s License Rein­state­ment Fee ($100 Cur­rently, $250 in fall 2010).

If you have any ques­tions or com­ments, feel free to post a com­ment on this page. If you like this page, please share it with your friends so that we may pre­vent unnec­es­sary deaths in the province. Please think twice when you step into the auto­mo­bile after drinking.

See Also: [PSSG-BC]

No related posts.