Impaired driving, DUI (Driving under the influence), drunken driving or whatever the term may be, it remains one of the largest burdens on society in terms of social, emotional and financial cost. In Canada, extensive studies have been conducted to measure these costs and the results are shocking. Research conducted more than five years ago put the cost to governments, individuals and taxpayers at billions of dollars in:

• injuries
• property damage
• traffic delays
• additional costs in medical rehabilitation and care
• burden on families
• health-care systems
• police
• fire-departments
• roads and infrastructure
• para-medical systems
• law enforcement
• courts and the legal system
• towing and storage fees for accidents

Federal Offense

Impaired driving is a federal criminal offense. People entitled to drive a car, truck, boat, bus, van, snowmobile, aircraft, vessel or railway transportation, etc, must have care and control of the motor vehicle. Operating the vehicle with more than 0.08% Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is a crime, punishable with prescribed penalties. Additional charges are included if you refuse to give a sample, fail to stop after an accident, cause an accident with bodily harm to others including co-passengers, engage the police in pursuit or drive when you’re prohibited.

How Impaired Driving Affects You

People in general who are law-abiding may assume that since they don’t drink and drive, these costs don’t matter to them. However, the reality is that every tax-paying citizen is directly or indirectly affected by this crime. In terms of specific costs, impaired driving has an impact on:

1. Insurance: Conviction for drinking and driving can scale your insurance costs up dramatically. Your car insurance premiums could escalate more than 200% based on your age and the kind of crime you were charged with.
2. Legal status: Impaired driving is a criminal offense and can stay on your record for at least 5-6 years, regardless of whether you win your case in court or not. This continues to impact your social/professional/financial status and affects your insurance premiums. If you’re convicted of a second and third offense, you may face life-time driver’s license suspension, jail term, fines and innumerable legal and court costs. The legal process can drag on for years, inconveniencing you and restricting your movements. You will also have to compulsorily attend rehabilitation and educational programs.
3. Financial: Impaired driving is a very expensive crime to defend and face. Fines begin at $600 for conviction in a first offense and apart from this, you have to pay for reinstatement of your license, fees for installation of ignition interlock device along with regular monthly payments for recalibration and monitoring, payment for rehabilitation and educational programs, bail-bond costs and huge costs of using alternate transportation while your license is suspended. Costs of premiums can also become higher and some portion of this is passed on to general consumers too.
4. Taxation: Apart from personal costs, the burden on taxpayers increases as a result of the burden on law enforcement, prison costs, judicial and administrative costs.
5. Property costs: Damage to government/private property and vehicles rise, as the cost of installing guard-rails, signs, etc increases.
6. Human cost:  Nearly 2000 people are killed across Canada annually and many more injured. It indirectly affects more than 70,000 people every year in some way or other, either in terms of injuries, losing a loved one or an earning member of a family. Medication costs, care-giver expenses, alterations to home and office, disability assistive technology, therapy costs and extended hospitalization costs can deplete a family’s financial reserves and prospects, apart from the human cost of pain, suffering and grief.

Victim Costs of Impaired Driving Accidents

If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident with an impaired driver, the costs can be huge too. Sometimes, serious injuries or death may be a result of such an accident. Based on the circumstances of the case and nature of injuries, some of the expenses that victims face include:

• Loss of income/job/career
• Disability costs
• Loss of future earning
• Loss of companionship, care and guidance (in case of death)
• Medical and rehabilitation costs
• Care-giver costs
• Household maintenance 

How We Can Assist

Our skilled and experienced accident injury lawyers can help you as a victim of impaired driving to seek compensation from statutory benefits, civil and criminal lawsuits against the person/s responsible for the accident if they were driving impaired. Our no win no fee lawyers provide a thorough assessment based on the merits of your case, along with specialist personal injury lawyers who can assist you with your claims.

If you you or your loved ones have been injured by a drunk driver, please feel free to speak to one of our injury lawyers for a free consultation about how we are able to assist in making a personal injury claim. We consult in all cities across Ontario with a no win no fee guarantee. Our personal injury lawyers have helped victims secure millions of dollars in personal injury cases. Call us Toll Free On our 24/7 Injury Hotline: 1 – 844 495 7333.