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An Ontario man was recently sentenced to 100 days in jail, ordered to stay away from alcohol and will not be able to drive for the next 30 months after he was arrested for driving through a red light at the rocket-fast speed of 15 km/h. While no one was injured, Sarnia police insisted on stopping, arresting and charging the man with drunk driving.
Many people in Toronto may be surprised that someone could be jailed for driving while impaired. Though many may assume that a conviction for impaired driving is relatively minor, there are far more serious consequences than many may assume.
Take, for example, what happened here. The 52-year-old Ontarian had been convicted of impaired driving three times previously. That was enough, according to the judge, to land him a jail sentence. Even for first time offenders, a drunk driving conviction could strip a driver of his or her license for a year, cause trouble at work and bar the driver from travelling abroad. Moreover, a driver will have a permanent criminal record and will have to deal with increased insurance premiums.
Combating those charges, however, could help a driver avoid most, if not all, of those consequences. If police violated a driver’s rights, for example, much of the evidence collected would be barred from court. Without evidence, the Crown would not be able to successfully prosecute and the charges would need to be dropped.
According to police, the man was administered a breath test during which his blood alcohol level was recorded as well over the legal limit.
Source: Sun News Network, “100 days for Ontario drunk driver who led police on a slow-mo chase,” Neil Bowen, Feb. 7, 2014
