Tests for Impairment
It is an offence to drive any motor vehicle (including a boat, plane or train) when your ability to drive is impaired by drugs or alcohol. It is also an offence to drive any motor vehicle when your blood alcohol level is over .08 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
If the police have reasonable grounds to suspect that you have alcohol or drugs in your body and you have been driving a vehicle within the preceding three hours, they can require you to undergo a number of different tests of your sobriety. They can require you to do a physical coordination test to assess your sobriety. They can make a video recording of the test. If they believe you have been drinking they can require you to provide a breath sample.
Police do not need a warrant. Reasonable grounds will include if they see you driving erratically, if they smell alcohol when you open your car window, or if they ask “have you been drinking” and you answer yes. The police will ask you to ‘blow’ into a breath sample screening device.
It is an offence to refuse or fail to provide a breath sample. You do not have a right to counsel at this stage. If you fail the breath sample test it will be reasonable grounds to believe that you might be impaired (that is, you might have a blood alcohol level greater than .08 milligrams). It is not an offence if you fail this test, because it is not sufficient proof of impairment.
If the police believe on reasonable grounds that you have been driving while impaired by alcohol (if you failed the breath screening, the sobriety test or were in an accident), they can require you to take a breathalyser test. This usually happens at the police station. If you are not able to take a breathalyser test they can require you to give a blood sample, to be taken by a qualified technician.
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If the police believe you have been driving while impaired by drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol, they can require you to give a urine sample or can take a swab from the inside of your cheek, or they can require you to give a blood sample. The blood sample must be taken by a qualified technician.
It is an offence to refuse to provide a sample when requested to do so.
Any sample you give could be used as evidence against you at your trial, even if the police didn’t tell you at the time they demanded it that your sample could be used as evidence against you later.
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