If you have been charged with an impaired driving offence, you should not think that there is little or no hope of successfully defending the charge. The simple fact that breath readings exceed the legal limit does not make a defence hopeless.

First, consider the penalties you are facing if you are convicted of a drinking and driving offence:

1. If you are charged with a drinking-and-driving offence in Ontario, your licence will automatically be suspended for 90 days by the Ministry of Transportation.


2. Drinking-and-driving offences are criminal offences, and if convicted of a drinking-and-driving offence, you will have a criminal record. This may well result in serious consequences for you. For example, those convicted of criminal offences in Canada are generally not permitted to enter the United States.

First Offence:


1. A fine of $600.00 plus a 15% victim surcharge fine (unless it is "waived" by the trial judge).


2. A one-year "prohibition order" form the trial judge prohibiting you from driving on any street, highway or public place in Canada. (Many states in the United States "reciprocally" enforce this prohibition, and thus, you will not be permitted to drive in many states as well.) If you drive while under this prohibition order, you will be charged with another criminal offence, and, if convicted, the penalty is usually a jail sentence.



3. A one-year suspension of your license by the Ministry of Transportation that runs "concurrently" to, or, in other words, at the same time, as the prohibition order. You will not be able to get your license back until you complete a remedial programme run by the Ministry of Transportation. The cost of this programme is approximately $600.00 and you must pay for this yourself. Even when the one-year suspension has expired, your driving privileges are restricted. For the next year, you may only drive a vehicle equipped with an "ignition interlock" device. The interlock device is like a breathalyzer in a car. You cannot start the car, or keep driving it, unless you provide an alcohol-free sample of breath into the instrument. The cost of renting, and serving the interlock device must be borne by you.


4. Once you are permitted to drive again, your insurance premiums will rise dramatically-generally by approximately 100 percent for the next three years.



Second Offence:

1. Generally, those convicted of a second drinking-and-driving offence are subject to a minimum sentence of 14 days imprisonment.


2. A "prohibition" order of no less than two years and no more than five years.


3. A three-year suspension of your license. Even when the three-year suspension has expired, for the next three years, you may only drive a vehicle equipped with an "ignition interlock" device.


4. Once you are permitted to drive again, your insurance premiums will rise even more dramatically - generally, by approximately 100 to 200 percent.



Third Offence:

1. Generally, those convicted of a third offence are subject to a minimum sentence of imprisonment for 90 days.


2. A "prohibition" order of at least three years.


3. If the two previous convictions were entered in the last ten years, your driver's license will be suspended for life by the Ministry of Transportation. You may apply no earlier than 10 years after the conviction for reinstatement of your license, but, if it is reinstated, you will be required to drive for the rest of your life only with an ignition interlock device installed in your vehicle. (If convicted of a fourth offence, your license will be suspended for life, with no possibility, at all, of getting your license back.)


4. If you are not suspended for life your insurance premiums will be extremely expensive if car insurance may be obtained at all.





Please note that in the latest Throne Speech the government of Ontario proposed an amendment to the legislation which would suspend a driver's license for life after a second drinking-and-driving offence.