Drinking & Driving
Offences
Defended by Vancouver Criminal
Lawyer, Martin Peters Drinking & Driving Offences Impaired
Driving Charges
Blowing "Over 80" Charges
Refusing to Provide a Breath Sample Charges Driving Offences
Dangerous Driving Charges
Failure to Stop at the Scene of an Accident Charges
Careless Driving Charges
Drinking & Driving Offences
Drinking and Driving charges will usually involve both an Impaired Driving charge and an “Over 80” charge relevant to the breath samples obtained by the police. These cases are often complex to defend. Most cases require a Charter challenge to the admissibility of the breath samples and a challenge to the eye witness testimony as to the driving at issue. Mr. Peters has been very successful in keeping breath readings out of evidence and minimizing alleged drunken driving evidence.
Impaired
Driving
Impaired Driving means
driving a motor vehicle, including a boat, while your ability
to do so is impaired by alcohol or a drug (which can include
marijuana).
Blowing “Over “80” “Over
80" is an offence in which a person operates, or has care
and control of, a motor vehicle after consuming a sufficient
quantity of alcohol that, when tested, the concentration of alcohol
in your blood exceeds eighty milligrams of alcohol in one hundred
milligrams of blood. This offence
is frequently charged together with impaired driving. While the two charges
can arise from the same course of driving, it is important to note that they
do constitute separate offences and give rise to separate defences.
Refusing
to Provide a Breath Sample The offence
of refusing to provide a breath sample may be charged where a person
who has operated, or been in the care and control of, a vehicle refuses
to blow into either a screening device employed by the police at the
roadside or a breath testing instrument at the police station. The consequences
of a conviction for refusing to provide a breath sample can be as severe
as a conviction for either impaired driving or blowing “over 80". The
first occasion in which many people find that they need a lawyer is
when stopped and detained for a drinking and driving offence. Mr. Peters
is available by telephone 24 hours a day. He frequently receives calls
from clients in detention for drinking and driving offences. His advice
is often as follows: 1.
You have a right to contact, or try to contact, any lawyer you wish. If
you have a lawyer or know of a lawyer you wish to receive advice from,
ask the police to contact that person. They must do so without delay. If
he or she is unavailable after you have made some reasonable efforts to
locate that person, you may be required to attempt to reach another lawyer
or be deemed to have waived your right to contact counsel. You are not
required, or limited, to advice from duty counsel, an independent service
paid for by the government. You are not limited to one phone call. 2.
You have a right to speak to a lawyer or duty counsel in private. This
means in a circumstance in which your conversation cannot be overheard
by the police and in which you are not distracted by police coming and
going. 3. The purpose of most drinking
and driving arrests is to obtain a breath sample from the person
who was driving or had care and control of a motor vehicle. You will
be asked to provide a breath sample into an approved instrument.
You may only be asked to do this once you have fully exercised your
rights to contact counsel. The choice to provide the breath sample
is yours. But you must understand that a failure to provide a breath
sample will also constitute an offence. The consequences of a conviction
for failure to provide a breath sample are the same as a conviction
for impaired driving or blowing “over
80". In most cases, it is easier to defend a case where a person
has provided a breath sample that is over the legal limit than it is
to defend a case where the person has refused to provide the sample. 4.
The only thing you may be compelled to provide the police are two
valid breath samples. You are:
a. not required
to answer any questions as to your health, your activities prior
to arrest, including any alcohol or drug consumption, or your driving.
However, if you do provide any statement to the police, it is very
important that you tell the truth. A false statement may be used
to your detriment by the Crown during your trial;
b.
not required to take any physical tests ie. walking on a line,
touching your nose with your eyes shut etc; and
c.
not required to provide any DNA, hair, saliva, blood or other
samples, absent the police obtaining a warrant which expressly
requires such samples.
5.
The police often video tape the breath sample process at
the police station. Be on your best behaviour. A video tape
which shows that you are cooperative and not impaired can
be a major asset at trial. The converse is also true. 6.
When you leave the police station try to write down as
soon as possible everything that you remember. Your memory
will be a lot better at that time than it will be months
later when you are reviewing, and perhaps disagreeing,
with the notes that the police made of your detention.
You may be able to rely on notes made contemporaneously
with your arrest or detention during your trial to refresh
your memory. Such notes can not only improve your memory,
they may also enhance your credibility in the eyes of the
court. The police will also be relying on their notes.
If you have notes which contradict their testimony, your
own evidence, enhanced by your notes, will be more credible
and probably more accurate than if you just rely on your
memory of events that occurred months or years before. 7.
Impaired driving, blowing “over 80" and refusing
a breath sample cases can be the most technical charges
to defend. Frequently a forensic toxicologist will need
to be retained. These charges almost always give rise
to efforts by the defence to exclude evidence as a result
of breaches of your Charter rights by the police. You
will need a lawyer. Even if you intend to plead guilty,
a lawyer can greatly enhance the likelihood of a lesser
sentence. Therefore, you should hire a lawyer without
delay once you are charged with these offences.
Driving
Offences Mr. Peters
has a great deal of experience in defending driving
cases, particularly those in which there has been
a fatality or serious bodily harm. In such cases.
Mr. Peters often works closely with accident reconstruction
experts, automotive experts, medical experts and
other forensic scientists to challenge the assertions
of the police and the Crown with regards to the
driving in issue.
Dangerous
Driving
A
motor vehicle is any vehicle that is
drawn, propelled or driven by any means
other than muscle power. It includes
cars, trucks, sport utility vehicles,
tractor trailer combinations, all-terrain vehicles and motor homes. Dangerous
driving is driving in a manner that is dangerous to the public, having regard
to all the circumstances, including, but not limited to:
1. the nature, condition and use
of the place where the driving
occurred;
2. the amount of both vehicular
traffic and pedestrian traffic
actually there at the time; and
3. the amount of both vehicular
and pedestrian traffic that might
reasonably be expected to be
there at the time.
Dangerous operation
of a motor vehicle involves more
than just carelessness. It requires
a marked departure from what a
reasonable, prudent driver would
do in the circumstances. To be
convicted of this offence, the
Crown need not prove that a person
meant to endanger the lives or
safety of anyone, nor does the
Crown have to prove that someone
was actually harmed by the way
in which the motor vehicle was
driven.
Failing
to Stop at the Scene of an
Accident The criminal
code offence of failing to
stop at the scene of an accident
may be proven where a person
has care, charge or control
of a vehicle which is involved
in an accident and
1. that person knew that he or she was involved in an accident;
2. someone involved in the accident was in need of assistance
and the person with care, charge or control of the vehicle
knew that;
3. the person with care, charge or control of the vehicle failed
to stop and identify himself or herself after the accident.
This means to stop and park as soon as is practical and reasonable
in the circumstances. Identification will include providing
name and address;
4. that person failed to offer assistance to someone involved
in the accident or who was injured or required assistance;
and
5. that person intended to escape civil or criminal liability
for the accident. The knowledge of the person in charge of the vehicle will be critical to
such a case. Knowledge will include not only what the person was sure of
but also what they had a good reason to believe might have occurred.
This is a
provincial offence contrary to the Motor Vehicle Act, (B.C.)
in which a person drives a motor vehicle:
1. without due care and attention;
2. without reasonable consideration for other persons using
the highway; or
3 at a speed that is excessive relative to the road, traffic,
visibility or weather conditions
|
