Impaired driving and “over 80 charge” are 2 different offences in Canada. Importantly, these offences require different defense strategies in court. By law, the maximum allowable blood alcohol content when driving must be below 80.
So if you are driving with 80 mg of alcohol in blood and the breath test you take proves it, it is an “Over 80“ charge. Impaired driving charge is laid when the driver’s behavior clearly indicates that he or she is not in control of his or her actions and can’t operate the car wheel.
Signs of impaired driving include slurred speech, loss of balance, poor driving. As a rule, the court requires witnesses (other drivers, passengers, police officers, pedestrians), that is, anyone who can testify that the driver was not in control of his actions).
It is important to note that impaired driving can be caused not only by alcohol consumption but also by drugs. If one takes a light drug such as marijuana, the penalties would be charged if the THC content in the blood is more than 2-5 ng while driving.
If the level is higher, the penalties are severe. When taking more serious drugs such as magic mushrooms, LSD, cocaine or other types of drugs, any detectable amount of these drugs in the blood is illegal and would result in severe penalties. It should be said, when drugs are involved, finding evidence of impaired driving becomes more complicated. To start with, in the case of drugs, it is not enough to find a witness to testify to the driver’s erratic behavior. The case that includes driving under the influence of drugs requires a drug recognition expert to conduct drug tests and observe the behavior of the arrested driver.