The Canadian government is increasing the fines for criminal DUIs, codifying aggravating factors that would normally be left up to a judge’s discretion.
The changes come as part of the omnibus Bill C-46, which passed its third reading on October 31, 2017. The bill makes significant changes to a number of drinking-driving offences, including the new designations of DUI over .12 and DUI over .16.
What will the new cost be for a DUI over .12 in British Columbia?
The new law, which is now before the Senate, creates different punishment depending on the drivers blood-alcohol concentration. If the law receives Royal Assent, a person convicted with a prohibited blood-alcohol concentration will face a minimum fine of $1,500 for having a .12% BAC, or 120 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood and a $2,000 fine for exceeding 160 mg, or .16% BAC. These fines are in addition to the 1-year driving prohibition, remedial programs and criminal conviction.
Fines increased by $500-$1,000 for many impaired driving cases
Formerly blowing over .16 on a breathalyzer — or double the legal limit — would be an aggravating factor for judges upon sentencing. But the fines established are elevated from what judges would normally order on a first offence — particularly with respect to the $1,500 fine for being over .12. In our experience, many of the impaired driving cases we’ve seen involve drivers who are over .12. The difference between providing a breath sample that indicates .11 and one that indicates .12 can merely be an issue of the vagaries of the particular Approved Instrument, the margin of error of the Instrument or the flow of breath into the Instrument.
Aggravating factors are no longer up to a judge’s discretion
In R. v. Dibdin, an impaired driver received a $2,000 fine and a two-year driving prohibition for the first-time offence of driving over .08. The facts of the case were “unusual and aggravating” because the defendant’s blood alcohol content was over .25. The driver got into a minor collision with another vehicle, resisted arrest, and tried to flee the scene of an accident as well. In addition the driver was ordered to pay a $1,500 fine for failing to stop at the scene of an accident.
Under these new laws, getting caught at a roadblock with a blood-alcohol content over .16 would come with a financial penalty similar to Dibdin, even without the aggravating factors of fleeing the scene of an accident and resisting arrest. The judge in the case also noted that the fine was not the best way to handle drinking-driving offences.
Here’s what the judge said:
“The problem with this approach is that a fine and prohibition are often not the best means of addressing the principles of sentencing set out in section 718 of the Code. Specifically, a fine is not the best means of denouncing the unlawful conduct or of deterring it and can send the message that the behaviour is permissible if the offender is financially able to afford it. A fine has no rehabilitative aspect.”
In most of the cases we reviewed, an increase in the fine for being over the legal limit was only justified it wasn’t a first offence or if there were aggravating factors as well (e.g. resisting arrest, failure to stop). This new law makes a mandatory minimum fine out of what would normally be considered an aggravating factor better left to a judge’s discretion.
Bill C-46 creates mandatory minimums for drivers convicted of driving between .12 and .16 BAC, and $2,000 when over .16. Judges will have to sentence individuals in accordance with the new mandatory minimums rather than evaluating the details of the case.
Bill C-46 is currently before the Senate and it’s only a matter of months before it becomes law.
How Bill C-46 changes fines for high blood alcohol concentration DUIs:
Punishment
320.19 (1) Everyone who commits an offence under subsection 320.14(1) or 320.15(1) is liable on conviction on indictment or on summary conviction
(a) to the following minimum punishment, namely,
(i) for a first offence, a fine of $1,000,
(ii) for a second offence, imprisonment for a term of 30 days, and
(iii) for each subsequent offence, imprisonment for a term of 120 days;
(b) if the offence is prosecuted by indictment, to imprisonment for a term of not more than 10 years; and
(c) if the offence is punishable on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years less a day.
Minimum fines for high blood alcohol concentrations
(3) Despite subparagraph (1)(a)(i), everyone who commits an offence under paragraph 320.14(1)(b) is liable, for a first offence, to
(a) a fine of not less than $1,500, if the person’s blood alcohol concentration is equal to or exceeds 120 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood but is less than 160 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood; and
(b) a fine of not less than $2,000, if the person’s blood alcohol concentration is equal to or exceeds 160 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood.