Drinking and driving offences in Ontario have been a recurring problem and one of the main focuses of the Safer Roads for a Safer Ontario Act. According to government statistics, a quarter of all motor vehicle fatalities in Ontario are the result of drinking and driving; on top of this, 75 per cent of convicted drunk drivers continue to drive despite driving bans. The Ontario government intends to limit recurring drink driving by giving reduced licence suspensions for those drunk drivers who participate in the Ignition Interlock Conduct Review programme.
The Ignition Interlock Conduct Review Programme is muted to start on 3rd August this year. Eligible convicted drivers will be selected for participation in the programme and will be given their licences back much sooner than before. The programme works by giving the suspended drink driver a device that fits on to their car’s ignition system. The device stops the car from starting if it detects alcohol on the driver’s breath (the device is programmed to stop when alcohol readings exceed 20 milligrams in 100 millilitres of blood from a breath sample.) The law in Ontario currently dictates that first time impaired drivers face a one-year licence suspension, yet with the new programme, drunk drivers will receive a reduced suspension of around three months followed by nine months of driving with an ignition interlock device.
Lawyers in the province argue that the new programme unfairly punishes drunk drivers because they must enter a guilty plea once the interlock ignition device detects an illegal alcohol reading.
The programme has been designed to modify the behaviour of impaired drivers. Using the interlock ignition device is aimed at training drivers not to drink alcohol again when getting into their cars and when used over a nine month period, the impaired driver’s behaviour is expected to change.
There are huge benefits to impaired drivers eligible for the programme particularly those in rural areas with weak transport links; in the past these drivers may have lost their livelihood because getting in to work was difficult without a car. Nevertheless, some Ontario lawyers are in arms about the programme because eligibility depends on a guilty plea. Ontario lawyers feel that some drivers may be ignoring the fact that they have a valid defence and simply pleading guilty to get onto the programme, when their lawyers could fight the charges.
For more free legal advice visit www.legalcanadacommunity.com
