LawyerSelect.ca - Criminal Law Blog

IMPAIRED DRIVING IN CANADA - AN INTRODUCTION This blog is brought to you courtesy of  LawyerSelect.ca What's the difference between "Over 80" and "Impaired Driving"? Both Impaired Driving and Over 80 are criminal offences that carry the exact same punishment. Additionally, both the offences arise when an individual allegedly operates a motor vehicle while their ability to do so is impaired by alcohol or a drug. That's not to say, however, that they're the same crime. To charge someone with Impaired Driving, police need to have reasonable grounds to believe that the individual in question is operating a motor vehicle while their ability to do so is impaired by alcohol or a drug. Unlike the offence of Over 80, there is no minimum blood-alcohol concentration required to charge someone with Impaired Driving. Therefore, the offence is dependent upon evidence of impairment, rather than a specific blood-alcohol concentration. Police typically

Over 80: A Drinking a Driving Offence Explained This blog is brought to you courtesy of  LawyerSelect.ca   What Does The Term “Over 80” Actually Mean? As you probably already know, the Canadian criminal law contains several offences that loosely fall under the umbrella of a DUI (driving under the influence). One of those offences is known as Over 80; but what exactly does it mean, and what is it referring to? Simply put, the term Over 80 refers to the offence of operating a motor vehicle (or having care and control of a motor vehicle) while an individual’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is equal to, or more than, 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. Therefore, 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood is the criminal limit, which we usually refer to as 0.08 (said: point zero eight). It is important to note that your ability to operate a motor vehicle may not actually be impaired despite your blood-alcohol concentration being in excess of