Should Ontario overhaul how it charges drunk drivers?

The head of Mother’s Against Drunk Driving is calling on the Ontario government to overhaul how it charges people caught driving drunk and to implement partial decriminalization, a change the province appears open to considering.

Andrew Murie, CEO of MADD Canada, told Ontario Today on Thursday that partial decriminalization of driving under the influence charges reduces deaths caused by drunk driving.

Drunk driving to be largely decriminalized in Alberta in 2018
B.C. drinking and driving deaths down significantly
Since British Columbia introduced decriminalization legislation in 2010, police officers have been offering people caught driving under the influence for the first time — as long as they have not caused damage to property or injured anyone — the option of choosing administrative sanctions or criminal charges.

In a few years, the number of road deaths related to impaired driving had fallen dramatically.

“The focus of that program is solely on things that might rehab and reduce recidivism, where the criminal code focuses more on a punishment,” Murie said.

“Immediately behaviour changed [in B.C.],” he added. “People were continuing to go out and purchasing alcohol, but when it came to the actual act of driving their behaviours changed.”

Processing administrative sanctions is also much quicker than processing criminal charges and sending someone to court, so the change is saving money in courts and in police services, he said.

Read the full article here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/decriminalize-drunk-driving-madd-ontario-1.4473689

For more local DUI news and information please visit our website https://www.toronto-dui-lawyer.ca/

A Tesla owner’s excuse for his DUI crash

The driver had a blood-alcohol content nearly double the legal limit and a tenuous relationship with consciousness when his car slammed into the back of a parked fire truck on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge.

Still, he became maybe the first to add a technologically advanced new entry to the list of drunken driving excuses.

He wasn’t driving, the man told the highway patrolman Monday morning. The car was.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the driver explained that his Tesla electric vehicle “had been set on autopilot,” obviating the need for him to be in control of the vehicle or, well, sober.

He was wrong, of course, and was ultimately jailed under suspicion of driving under the influence. But as word of another Tesla autopilot crash spread, the case of car as designated driver became an interesting thought exercise for anyone with more than a passing interest in vehicles that drive themselves.

If Elon Musk and other forward-thinking automakers have their way, there will soon be a time when there is no more drunken driving, because cars never have to wonder whether they’ve had one too many vodka martinis.

But until we all have our own computer-controlled, two-ton chauffeurs, we’re left with an increasing number of cars with a raft of features that make them semi-autonomous — vehicles that are safer and smarter, if not particularly geniuses.

Carmakers are transparent about that caveat emptor quality of their vehicles.

Read the full article here: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/01/23/a-tesla-owners-excuse-for-his-dui-crash-the-car-was-driving.html

For more local DUI news and information please visit our website https://www.toronto-dui-lawyer.ca/

Woman unfit to care for horse after DUI while riding

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted Dec 30, 2017 2:17 pm EST Last Updated Dec 30, 2017 at 3:00 pm EST
BARTOW, Fla. – A Florida judge says a sheriff’s office must retain custody of a horse whose owner was charged with drunken driving while riding the animal.

In a report by The Ledger , Polk County Judge Sharon Franklin said 53-year-old Donna Byrne was unfit to care for the horse. Franklin also said Byrne must complete treatment for alcohol addiction.

Byrne was arrested Nov. 2 after riding her horse down a highway. Police said her blood-alcohol level twice Florida’s legal limit.

Byrne’s attorney, Craig Whisenhunt, says he will revisit the custody issue at a Jan. 11 hearing regarding additional pending charges of disorderly intoxication, animal endangerment and culpable negligence.

Whisenhunt questions whether the charges applied to Byrne, saying she had not been disorderly and was a pedestrian under the law.

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Information from: The Ledger (Lakeland, Fla.), https://www.theledger.com

Read the full article here: https://www.680news.com/2017/12/30/judge-woman-unfit-to-care-for-horse-after-dui-while-riding/

For more local DUI news and information please visit our website https://www.toronto-dui-lawyer.ca/

Florida man dials 911 to report his own drunk driving

The Associated Press
Published Saturday, January 6, 2018 2:46PM EST
Last Updated Saturday, January 6, 2018 2:48PM EST
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Florida authorities are sharing the details of an unusual 911 call on New Year’s Eve, from a man who said he wanted to report himself drunk-driving.

Polk County Sheriff’s officials say the dispatcher kept him talking while directing officers to the scene.

When the dispatcher asked Michael Lester where he was, he said, “I’m too drunk. I don’t know where I’m at.”

And when she asked what he’d been doing all night, he said “I don’t know, driving around, trying to get pulled over, actually.”

“I’m driving on the wrong side of the road,” he said later.

The operator repeatedly urged him to park his truck and wait for officers to find him. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong spot.

Read the full article here: https://www.cp24.com/world/florida-man-dials-911-to-report-his-own-drunk-driving-1.3748459

For more local DUI news and information please visit our website https://www.toronto-dui-lawyer.ca/

Randy Travis loses bid to block naked DUI arrest video

By Kristin M. Hall, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NASHVILLE — A federal judge has denied a request by country singer Randy Travis to stop the state of Texas from releasing footage of him naked and ranting during a 2012 DUI arrest.

The ruling on a request for a preliminary injunction issued Thursday paves the way for the Texas Department of Public Safety to release the footage on Friday, which was requested through open records requests.

Travis’ family has been in a long legal battle to stop the release of the footage that went all the way to the state Supreme Court, which denied his petition. Travis filed a federal lawsuit in September in Texas arguing that that the footage should be considered private under health record privacy regulations. But the judge said he did not show a substantial likelihood of success on the claims.

Read the full article here: https://torontosun.com/entertainment/celebrity/randy-travis-loses-bid-to-block-naked-dui-arrest-video

For more local DUI news and information please visit our website https://www.toronto-dui-lawyer.ca/

Norwegian billionaire tobacco heiress given $38,750 drunk-driving fine

A 22-year-old Norwegian student has been handed a 250,000-kroner ($38,750 Canadian) fine for drunken driving — but can still count herself lucky. Katharina G. Andresen is reportedly Norway’s richest woman, a tobacco heiress with a fortune estimated by Forbes at $1.57 billion. Fines for drunken driving in Norway are based on the defendant’s income. Newspaper Finansavisen reported that Oslo City Court said the penalty could have been up to 40 million kroner ($6.2 million) if based on Andresen’s assets.

Read the full article here: https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/11/17/norwegian-billionaire-tobacco-heiress-given-38750-drunk-driving-fine.html

For more local DUI news and information please visit our website https://www.toronto-dui-lawyer.ca/

Justin Bieber’s head of security arrested for DUI after crash injures cops

Justin Bieber’s head of security Mikey Arana has been arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) after a car crash that injured two Florida police officers on Thursday. The Miami-Dade County Police officers’ injuries meant they were taken into hospital, with one having to be airlifted. Both have now been released from the hospital, police officials confirmed on Twitter.

Read the full article here: https://torontosun.com/entertainment/celebrity/justin-biebers-head-of-security-arrested-for-dui-after-crash-injures-cops

For more local DUI news and information please visit our website https://www.toronto-dui-lawyer.ca/