IMPAIRED DRIVING FINES JUMPING UP

Lambton's approach to impaired driving will be matched by the rest of
Canada when legislation increasing fines becomes law July 2.

The minimum fine for a first offence jumps from $600 to
$1,000.

"They're finally catching up with us . . . That's been our starting
point ($1,000)," said Lambton Crown attorney Diane Foster.

Bill C-2 increases mandatory jail sentences for repeat
offenders.

A second conviction will jail a person for 30 days rather than 14 and
a third conviction will send a person away for four months rather than
three.

A four-month sentence is beyond the range that can be served on
weekends.

"It will hopefully be a disincentive," said Foster.

Sarnia Deputy Police Chief Phil Nelson said increased penalties should
be a deterrent.

"There are people who will learn. There are people who won't," he
said.

When local judges began imposing increased fines during the past year,
they cited a need to halt the increasing number of people charged with
impaired driving.

"We are still seeing an increase but it has slowed," said
Foster.

As of April, the number of impaired driving charges laid by the
Lambton OPP hit 40, three more than arrested during the same period
last year.

Across Ontario, the reduction in deaths and serious injuries has hit a
plateau, said Staff Sgt. Bill Price of the Highway Safety Division at
the OPP's Orillia headquarters. "This is the next step to bring it
down further," said Price.

The new law also allows police officers to conduct roadside tests to
determine if a person is impaired by drugs.

Officers, who have received the drug recognition training, can demand
samples of bodily fluids, including blood and urine, to determine if
drugs like marijuana are present.

A report prepared for Transport Canada said marijuana is second to
alcohol as the most commonly used psychoactive drug.

Marijuana does impair driving skills, states the report.

Drug impairment seems to go hand-in-hand with alcohol, said
Price.

Nelson said the new law is another tool in the battle against
drugs.

People could be charged with impaired driving due to a drug but there
was no test for it.

The new law can provide the evidence needed for drug-impaired
convictions, said Nelson.

It won't be until the fall that a Sarnia officer will complete the
required training to be a designated drug recognition officer.

He is one of the few police officers in the region taking the
training.

The OPP has a few officers trained in the Greater Toronto
Area.

"We won't have a provincewide capacity as of July 2 . . . It's going
to take some time," said Price.

A third change will require accused impaired drivers battling
convictions to show breath-test machines malfunctioned or were
operated incorrectly.

This is a change to the current evidence-to-the-contrary defence where
people could testify their blood-alcohol levels were lower than
determined by the police breath-test machines. Credible evidence the
amount they drank would not put them over the limit was sufficient to
bring an acquittal.

Drunk driving trials will become "more technical" as the machine's
operations are questioned, said Foster.

"We'll get much more into the science," she said.

Defence lawyers are preparing to challenge the machine, based on
potential interference from chemicals and radio signals from cell
phones and portable police radios.

Local defence lawyer James Guggisberg, who recently had a woman
acquitted based evidence-to-the-contrary said there will be also be
constitutional challenges to the new law.

Requirements for defendants to prove the machine malfunctioned
conflicts with the Charter of Rights guarantee that a person is
presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Foster said a successful charter challenge could "throw a wrench" into
the courts.

Guggisberg said courts could come to a grinding halt while appeal
courts, including the Supreme Court, issue definite rulings on charter
challenges.

Lower courts could reserve judgment on similar cases until the
definitive rulings are issued.

The July 2 Implementation of the law could also bring
challenges.

Guggisberg said there may be Crown attempts to make changes in the
trial requirements retroactive.

A person charged with impaired driving prior to July should not have
the trial conducted under changes to the new law.

It's another issue in what Foster said will be "a big learning curve
for everybody."