Charged with Impaired Driving in Toronto? How a Toronto Law Firm Can Fight the Charge

It’s a Friday in December and there’s a RIDE check set up near an on-ramp to the Gardiner, cones across two lanes and officers with flashlights walking up to each car. You had two glasses of wine with dinner three hours ago and you feel completely fine. The officer asks you to blow into a roadside device anyway, the screen reads “fail”, and forty minutes later you’re at a police station giving breath samples, then heading home in a cab without your licence and with a court date at 10 Armoury Street.

That’s a common way for an impaired driving case to start in Toronto, and the people it happens to are often surprised by how fast the consequences pile up. Some begin that same night, before anyone has been convicted of anything.

If you’ve been charged with impaired driving in Toronto, it helps to understand that there are really two processes running side by side, one administrative and one criminal, and that the criminal one has far more room for a defence than most people assume.

What happens at the roadside

Since the law changed in late 2018, police at a lawful stop who have an approved screening device can demand a breath sample from any driver, without needing to suspect they’ve been drinking. A fail on that device usually leads to a demand for samples on the more accurate instrument at the station.

In Ontario, a driver who blows over the legal limit or refuses a demand typically faces a 90-day roadside licence suspension and has the vehicle impounded for seven days, along with towing, storage and administrative costs. That suspension is separate from the criminal case and kicks in regardless of how the criminal charge turns out, which catches a lot of people off guard.

The criminal charges

Impaired driving offences sit in Part VIII.1 of the Criminal Code. The most common are impaired operation under section 320.14(1)(a), being at or over 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood within two hours of driving under section 320.14(1)(b), and failing or refusing to provide a sample under section 320.15.

The minimum penalties are set by statute, and for a first offence they depend on the blood alcohol reading.

First offence	Minimum fine
80 to 119 mg	$1,000
120 to 159 mg	$1,500
160 mg or more	$2,000
Refusing a demand	$2,000

A second offence carries at least 30 days in jail, and each one after that at least 120 days. There’s also a mandatory driving prohibition, at least a year for a first offence, and a criminal record. Because these offences carry mandatory minimums, a discharge isn’t available, so a conviction can’t be erased the way some first-time offences can. Insurance is a separate headache on top of all that, with premiums for drivers with an impaired conviction often climbing sharply for years.

Where a defence usually starts

This is the part people don’t expect. Impaired driving cases are technical, and the Crown has to get a long list of steps right, any of which can fall apart once a lawyer has the disclosure in hand.

• Whether the stop itself was lawful.
• When the breath demand was made, and how.
• Maintenance and calibration records for the devices.
• Timing between driving and the samples.
• How quickly you were allowed to call a lawyer.
• What the officer’s notes and any video actually show.

The right to counsel point deserves a little more explanation. Once you’re detained, you have the right under the Charter to speak to a lawyer without delay, and police have to give you a real chance to do that before gathering evidence from you. If that was delayed or brushed aside, the breath results can sometimes be excluded, and without them the over 80 charge may not survive.

Even where the evidence holds up, there’s often room to negotiate. Depending on the facts and the readings, a case can sometimes be resolved with the Crown as a lesser charge, such as careless driving under the Highway Traffic Act, which avoids a criminal record altogether. That outcome isn’t guaranteed, but it’s far more likely when someone has gone through the disclosure carefully than when a driver simply turns up at the first appearance and pleads guilty.

Drugs and prescription medication

Impairment doesn’t only mean alcohol. Driving while impaired by cannabis, other drugs or even legally prescribed medication falls under the same section, and those cases often involve a Drug Recognition Evaluation at the station. They raise their own evidence questions, partly because there’s no single number that proves impairment the way a breath reading can, and they deserve a careful look before anyone assumes the outcome.

What to do in the first week

Write down everything you remember about the night while it’s fresh, including what you ate and drank and when, the time you were stopped, what the officer said, and when you asked to speak to a lawyer. Keep your release paperwork, the roadside suspension notice and any impound receipt together. Don’t discuss the details with anyone except your lawyer.

Call a lawyer early. Part of the reason is the roadside suspension, which can sometimes be challenged on a short timeline, and part is that the criminal file goes better when someone is requesting disclosure from the start instead of a week before trial.

About Legal Solutions Law Firm

Legal Solutions Law Firm handles impaired driving, over 80 and refusal charges across Toronto and the GTA. It’s led by Ryan Manilla, who was called to the Ontario Bar in 2008, and it offers a free, confidential consultation, flat fees with payment plans, and phone availability 24 hours a day.

If you were stopped at a RIDE check last weekend and you’re holding a court date and a suspension notice, the sensible step is to have someone read your disclosure before you decide anything.

This article is general information and isn’t legal advice for any particular case.