Can You Be Charged With Impaired Driving On Private Property?

Welcome to our video. I’ve got a great topic for you today. Can you be charged with impaired driving or a DUI on private property? That’s a great question. The simple answer to that is yes you can because the criminal code under Section 320.14 impaired operation which includes care or control of a motor vehicle that all over Canada not just streets and highways and roads on private property you can be charged. So let me give you an example.

You can be at a riding lawnmower on your front grass and if the police happened to be coming to your home that day for another reason and see you, they could charge you with impaired driving. People don’t know that, golf carts you name it, on private properties, ATVs, cars, sleeping in your driveway in a running car, for example, your in care of control.

So that’s kind of the simple answer to that question. A lot of people don’t realize that you might own acres and acres and you’re on your ATV that day drinking and for some reason the police were called to your property for some other purpose and happened to come upon you.

Well, you could get charged. Now the more interesting question which arose from a decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal called Mike McColeman from 2016 is whether the police are allowed to stop your vehicle on a private property. Now in the McColeman decision. The police saw this gentleman driving on an ATV on a highway I don’t think he was doing anything wrong.

But they decided to follow him onto his private property. And they stopped him on the private property, his own private property along the laneway as I understand it, and the Ontario Court of Appeal with at least one judge dissenting, they ruled, look the police are not allowed to stop a vehicle on private property. So I mean, if the police are behind you, and their not forming an intention to pull you over and you pull into your long driveway and they put on the lights in your long driveway, there’s a reasonable argument that you may be able to win that case because it’s an arbitrary detention and unlawful search on private property. So there’s rights of property, private property, so very interesting decision which kind of a little known decision as well.

But yes, we’ve represented many clients charged on private property. It happens all the time. Sometimes police are called to a home for one purpose and started another investigation. They’re not stopping the vehicle on private property, its already there. Or maybe your in care or control, maybe you’re sleeping in your driveway. Maybe the neighbors reported a car running with someone sleeping. So that’s the short answer that question. Absolutely.

You have to be careful. Be careful riding your lawnmower or drinking beer in the summer even on a golf course believe it or not, that’s impaired driving if you’re intoxicated on a golf course, but I haven’t seen too many true people charged with that although I’ve seen a few.

And we’ve represented people from all sorts of things golf carts. People don’t realize electric bicycles, and if these are on private property and the police happen to come upon you and they’re not affecting a stop like I suggested in McColeman case. Yeah, sure, you can be charged with a DUI

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