Most Common Aggravating Factors For A DUI And Associated Penalties

What are the most common aggravating factors which will increase your sentence for impaired driving? Well, let’s break them down. The first one, I’ll just do the most common ones. The first one is having a higher blood alcohol concentration level. You see, if you have a blood alcohol concentration below 120, then the mandatory minimum fine is $1,000.00. If it’s 120 or above but below 160, it’s $1,500.00 and then it escalates at 160 or above to a mandatory minimum of $2,000.00. The fines can get much higher than that, but those are mandatory minimums. So that’s the first one. The second one is when there was , a motor vehicle accident. The judges really don’t like those. They’re going to increase the sentencing penalties for an impaired driving who gets in a car accident.

In certain situations, there are many judges in Ontario, if you’re in an accident on the 401 with bad driving and you get in an accident with another care or you destroy your car, there’s a lot of judges who will throw you in jail, even on a first offence. So that’s an aggravated situation. Another one is having a child in the car. Oh boy, you’ve got your little baby girl in the car. You’re drunk on your mind. You get convicted. Judges are going to look at throwing you into jail even for a first offence on that one as well. Repeat offenders is another problem. If you have a prior conviction, the Crown can rely on notice of increased penalty based on the fact you have a prior DUI conviction. And there’s mandatory minimum jail terms for this situaiont. There is no way of getting around it unless you win your case. And the more convictions you have, the more jail you’re going to face. So as an example, if you’ve got one prior conviction, you’re going to face a mandatory minimum of 30 days in jail, even for a minor DUI at a breath reading of 100 where you got caught in a RIDE program and there was no bad driving. So, very serious penalties. Of course, refusing a breath demand as well for the Intoxilyzer or roadside alcotest that’s a mandatory minimum $2,000.00 fine. So, that aggravates the situation as well. Let’s take, i not a garden variety low level DUI, but let’s take some very bad driving, excessive speeding, a judge can increase the penalties there, at much higher fines and for all of these aggravating factors as well, bear in mind, first time DUI, the mandatory minimum driving prohibition is one year. But with these aggravating factors, the judge could increase that to two years, even three, in some situations, if it’s horrendous type situation. Child in the car, a bad driving accident, you name it, those aggravated situations . Now further situations are that are really obviously horrendous if bodily harm, or death ensued, so impaired operation causing bodily harm or death, let’s face it, the for death, now I’ve seen ranges of sentences going up year by year. You’re looking at five-to-seven-year jail term. It used to be, you could get two, three-year jail terms, sometimes four years in jail for impaired driving causing death. However, the length of the jail terms has really escalated in recent years. I haven’t seen too many mere four-year jail term set recently, and rightfully so, they’re pretty serious offence. And same with impaired causing bodily harm. I mean, months and months in jail, if you render someone a paraplegic, you could get a few years in jail. There’s no question.

So, these are some of the common aggravating factors, ranging from high BAC, blood alcohol concentration, right up to impaired causing death that judges take in this account. They take it very seriously. And I’ll tell you, our DUI laws have just been very much strengthened in recent years, including in 2018 and you’re really up against it if you have these aggravating factors. Of course, unless you can properly defend yourself in court. But if you’re pleading guilty, boy, oh boy, they’re going to throw the book at you. There’s no question.