Breathalyzers: Standard Procedure at Every Traffic Stop?

Lorraine Explains: A breathalyzer at every traffic stop?

Yes, the cops in Canada can test you for impairment at will

Author of the article:Lorraine Sommerfeld

The answer my friend, is blowin' in the tube…

Probably not what Bob had in mind, but that's where we are with last week's announcement that the Ontario Provincial Police will be breath-testing every driver they pull over on GTA highways, including the QEW, 403 and 401. Kitchener-Waterloo area, too -- check your local news. Every stop. For whatever reason. Blow. Refuse and be charged with impaired driving and have your vehicle impounded. Ontario police point to a spike of 30 per cent in impaired charges and crashes from five years ago.

Back in 2018, Canada enacted a Mandatory Alcohol Screen Law (Bill C-46) permitting law enforcement to perform a breath test for alcohol -- a breathalyzer -- on any driver, for any reason, at any time. You don't have to be weaving, you don't have to be speeding up and slowing down (usual telltale signs of impairment as well as cell phone use), you just have to be driving. It was previously legal to pull you over for a sobriety check if police had a suspicion you'd been drinking, but now they can perform a sobriety test on anyone. The new law was to hammer home the fact that driving is a privilege, and they can enforce -- without suspicion -- the law that you're not allowed to drive while impaired.

There was an ensuing uproar about rights, but in the first three years, at least six times where it was taken to court, "each time the new law was upheld as constitutional. The judges have agreed with the government's essential argument that too many drunk drivers escape detection when police need suspicion for a search, and that requiring a breath test is a minimal impairment on rights," reported the National Post. Here's a ruling from B.C. last year.

Read more HERE!

Source: A breathalyzer at every traffic stop? | Driving

 

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