Charged only with Over 80?

Often, when someone is charged with drinking and driving offences, they are charged with both impaired operation of a motor vehicle and driving while over 80. Both charges are similar but slightly different: someone is impaired if their ability to drive is lowered by alcohol or drugs (for example they are drunk), whereas someone is over 80 if there is more than 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood.

The police often charge people with both offences as a means to catch everyone who may be drinking and driving: those who are drunk but not over the limit, and those who are over the limit but not acting drunk.

In order to ask for a sample of your breath, the police must have reasonable and probable grounds to suspect that you have alcohol in your system. If they did not charge you with being impaired, they may not have those reasonable grounds to suspect that you had alcohol in your system. If not, any breath sample provided to the police cannot be used against you.

Work with a criminal defence lawyer who has experience defending DUI charges, to ensure that ensure that your rights were respected, and to put forth your defence before the courts.