01 / 12 · Criminal Code, ss. 320.14 – 320.15
Impaired Driving
An impaired driving charge can threaten your licence, your job, and your freedom at once. We examine the stop, the grounds for the demand, and the breath or blood testing to find the weaknesses in the Crown's case.
- Impaired operation
- Over 80 (blood alcohol over the limit)
- Refusing a breath or blood demand
- Drug-impaired driving
- Licence suspensions
What is at stake
Why this charge needs a real defence.
A first conviction carries a mandatory minimum fine of $1,000, a Canada-wide driving prohibition of at least one year, and a criminal record. A second conviction means at least 30 days in jail, and a third at least 120 days. Ontario adds its own penalties from the moment you are charged: an immediate 90-day licence suspension and a 7-day vehicle impoundment, followed on conviction by a longer suspension, a remedial program, and an ignition interlock requirement.
How it is done
How we build your defence.
- 1
Secure the evidence
We request full disclosure early: officer notes, in-car and booking-room video, breath technician records, and the screening device and instrument records. Video is often the most important evidence in the case, and it does not last forever.
- 2
Examine the stop and the demand
Police need lawful authority to stop you and lawful grounds for each demand they make. We look at why you were stopped, what the officer observed, whether a screening device was actually on hand, and whether each step happened as soon as the law requires.
- 3
Test your right to counsel
From the moment of detention you have the right to speak with a lawyer, in private, without delay. If police failed to explain that right clearly, delayed your call, or steered you away from the lawyer you wanted, the breath results may be excluded.
- 4
Challenge the proof, then decide
We test whether the Crown can prove who was driving, when, and that the readings are reliable. With the weaknesses mapped, you decide with full information whether to negotiate a resolution or take the case to trial.
What we look for
The issues that decide these cases.
- 01
Unlawful stop or detention
A detention without lawful authority can breach section 9 of the Charter and undermine everything that followed.
- 02
Defective breath demand
Demands must be made promptly and on proper grounds. Delay or missing grounds can make the samples inadmissible.
- 03
Right-to-counsel breaches
Rushed warnings, long waits, or no real chance to reach a lawyer are among the most common reasons breath evidence is thrown out.
- 04
Unreasonable delay
Cases in the Ontario Court of Justice should finish within 18 months. Delay beyond that, not caused by the defence, can end a prosecution.
Possible outcomes
What a good result can look like.
- Charges withdrawn after a Charter or disclosure problem is identified
- Acquittal at trial
- Resolution to a non-criminal Highway Traffic Act offence in appropriate cases
- Where a conviction cannot be avoided, the minimum penalty and the earliest return to driving through the interlock program
Every case turns on its own facts. These are examples of results that may be available, not a prediction or guarantee of the outcome in your matter.
Questions
What people ask us first.
In Ontario, yes. If you register over the legal limit or refuse a demand, your licence is suspended for 90 days on the spot and the vehicle is impounded for 7 days. That administrative suspension applies whether or not you are later convicted, which is one reason to get advice quickly.
Often there is. Breath readings are only as good as the process used to get them. Many impaired driving cases are decided on how the stop was made, whether the demands were lawful, and whether your Charter rights were respected, not on the number itself.
Next step
Talk to us about your impaired driving matter.
A short conversation now can prevent mistakes that are hard to undo later. What you tell us is confidential.
