Impaired Driving

Information relating to impaired driving.

CASE LAW - McLeod v British Columbia

BC Courts Coat of ArmsThe case of McLeod v British Columbia (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles) and The Attorney General of British Columbia challenges the constitutionality of s. 320.27(2) of the Criminal Code, which authorizes mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) of drivers for the presence of alcohol as an investigatory tool. Norma McLeod and Nicole Quashnick say that it infringes their ss. 8, 9 and 10(b) rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Beware the Morning After

Alco-Sensor FSTParty Hearty! Early in my policing career it was not uncommon to find a drunk driver with a blood alcohol level between .30 and .36. These people were truly drunk and not just impaired as most of us would start to be at the .05 level. Time to head for home and sleep it off because some of us have to be at work in the morning.

REPORT - Measuring the Impact of Drug Impaired Driving

No Impaired DrivingThe Canadian Center for Drug Abuse and Addiction has released a report titled Measuring the Impact of Drug Impaired Driving. The report suggests that not enough is known about driving while impaired by drugs other than alcohol and its effects on people living in Canada.

STUDY PROTOCOL - Measuring Levels of Cannabis, Alcohol and Other Substances in Injured Drivers

No Impaired DrivingThe background to this document states that: "As the prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving decreases, and as more jurisdictions decriminalize or legalize cannabis, it is increasingly important for policy makers to have accurate information on the prevalence and pattern of drug driving."

VIDEO - Cannabis & Collisions: Dr. Jeff Brubaker

VideoWebinar hosted by the BC Injury Prevention Unit and conducted by Dr. Jeff Brubacher, Associate Professor, Dept. of Emergency Medicine, University of British Columbia. Unfortunately, the video sound is poor.

CASE LAW - R v Francisco

BC Courts Coat of ArmsThe case of R v Francisco involves a collision on June 7, 2019 in Burnaby that resulted in the death of a pedestrian, Louise Landreth. Roberto Francisco was driving a BMW sedan erratically over a period of about one hour and twenty minutes until a collision at high speed resulted in a loss of control and Ms. Landreth being struck and killed.

RESEARCH - Impaired Driving & Legalization of Recreational Cannabis

A recent article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal examined impaired driving and the legalization of recreational cannabis. It concluded that there is potential for a small but important increase in fatal motor vehicle collisions due to recreational marihuana use.

Drinking and Driving

Keys and DrinkWhoosh! Here comes a car overtaking my police vehicle at 144 km/h in the posted 110 km/h zone. It's dark at 11:30 pm and at that speed, any animal or object on the road won't be identified in time and a collision is almost sure to occur.

Drinking and Driving Zero Tolerance

Keys and DrinkI wrote this article back in 2004. Since then the B.C. government has enacted the Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) program, reducing the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) threshold for sanctions from 80 mg% to 50 mg%. In addition, the federal government implemented mandatory alcohol screening for any driver in December 2018.

Mandatory Alcohol Screening

Alcosensor FSTOur society's tolerance for drinking and driving continues to narrow. When I started policing in the 1980s it was a major investigation to convict someone for impaired driving. An investigator had to develop skills and experience in the detection of alcohol impaired drivers to form grounds to make a breath demand and convince the court that it was an appropriate decision.

Syndicate content

Google Ads