DUI FAQs: Impaired Driving Questions Answered

The legal limit is 80 mg of alcohol per 100 mL of blood (often expressed as 0.08 BAC). It’s measured using an Intoxilyzer 8000C at the police station, which analyzes breath samples and calculates equivalent blood alcohol concentration. Two separate samples are taken to ensure accuracy.

Yes. Impaired driving is a separate offence from Over 80. If your ability to operate a vehicle was impaired by alcohol, based on driving behaviour, physical signs, or failed coordination tests, you can be convicted even with a BAC below 80. The Crown must prove impairment, not a specific number.

You’ll be arrested and transported to a police division for further testing on the Intoxilyzer 8000C. Your licence will be immediately suspended for 90 days under Ontario’s Administrative Driver’s Licence Suspension program, and your vehicle will be impounded for 7 days. You’ll be released with a court date, typically within a few weeks.

The Intoxilyzer 8000C is the approved instrument in Ontario, but it’s not infallible. A DUI lawyer examines calibration records, maintenance logs, and operator qualifications when reviewing disclosure. Issues with timing, mouth alcohol, and medical conditions can affect accuracy. A skilled DUI lawyer knows what to look for.

Yes. Under Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act, an immediate 90-day Administrative Driver’s Licence Suspension takes effect when you fail the Intoxilyzer or refuse to provide a sample. This is separate from any Criminal Code driving prohibition that may be imposed upon conviction.

Legally, refusal or failure to comply with a lawful demand carries the same minimum Criminal Code penalties as Over 80, with a higher first-offence fine ($2,000 instead of $1,000). Courts take refusal seriously because it undermines road safety enforcement.

This is a common scenario. Police are required to give clear instructions and reasonable opportunities to provide an adequate sample. If the machine registers “insufficient sample” due to miscommunication, equipment issues, or genuine physical limitations, this may form part of a defence. However, deliberately blowing softly to avoid a reading is treated as refusal.

Yes, in some cases. Conditions like asthma, COPD, or recent chest surgery may make it genuinely difficult or impossible to provide an adequate sample. If you have a documented medical condition, this should be raised immediately with your lawyer. Medical records and expert evidence may support a defence.

If you refuse to blow into the Approved Screening Device at the roadside when lawfully demanded, you can be charged with refusal. The penalties include a mandatory minimum $2,000 fine for a first offence, a 1-year driving prohibition, a 90-day immediate licence suspension, and a criminal record.

Yes. Refusal charges are defensible. The Crown must prove the demand was lawful, that the officer had proper grounds, and gave clear instructions. Your attorney will examine whether the officer had reasonable suspicion, whether the demand was properly worded, and whether you were given a reasonable opportunity to comply.

Yes. If you’re found in the driver’s seat with keys accessible while impaired, you can be charged with care and control. The law focuses on whether there was a realistic risk that you might put the vehicle in motion, not whether you actually drove. Many people are surprised to face charges after trying to “sleep it off.”

Care and control means being in a position to set a vehicle in motion, combined with a realistic risk of danger. You don’t need to drive, sitting in the driver’s seat with the keys nearby creates a presumption of care and control that the defence must rebut.

The presumption arises from your position in the vehicle and access to the keys, not from whether the engine was running. Courts recognize that an intoxicated person in the driver’s seat could easily start the car and create danger. The Crown doesn’t need to prove you intended to drive, only that there was a realistic risk.

Defences include showing that keys were not accessible (locked in the trunk, given to someone else), that the vehicle was inoperable, that you were in the back seat with a clear plan not to drive, or that you had arranged alternative transportation. A lawyer gathers evidence to challenge the presumption, witness statements, phone records showing you called a cab, or proof of mechanical problems.

Your first appearance (the “set date”) is primarily administrative. The case won’t be decided that day. Your lawyer can often appear on your behalf. The purpose is typically to adjourn the matter so disclosure can be obtained and reviewed. Actual decisions about your case come later.

Many DUI cases are resolved without trial. After reviewing the disclosure, your lawyer may negotiate with the Crown for withdrawal of charges (if legal problems exist in the case), a reduction to a provincial offence like careless driving under the Highway Traffic Act, or a guilty plea to reduced charges. If resolution isn’t possible or desirable, the case proceeds to trial. Timeline from charge to final resolution in Toronto typically runs 9-18 months.

If you’re convicted, whether after trial or by entering a guilty plea, you will have a criminal record. Impaired driving is a serious criminal offence under the Criminal Code, not a traffic ticket. This record appears on background checks and remains until you obtain a record suspension.

Indefinitely, unless you obtain a record suspension. There’s no automatic expungement. The conviction remains in CPIC and on criminal record checks until the Parole Board of Canada grants a record suspension.

Record suspensions (formerly called pardons) are available after a waiting period: typically 5 years after completing your sentence for most summary conviction DUIs, or 10 years for indictable offences. You must apply through the Parole Board of Canada. Importantly, a Canadian record suspension doesn’t guarantee U.S. entry, American authorities maintain their own records.