You or someone you love has driven with a disability. And as long as the car doesn’t crash and no one is hurt or killed, you or they are caught. Now what?
Law enforcement is focusing on capturing disabled drivers for the month of February, and SGI’s traffic safety spotlight highlights some of the consequences these disabled drivers will face.
Consequences at best may include suspension of licenses, detention of vehicles, blocking of the ignition, a course of driving without injury and penalties for SDRs.
Media relations manager Tyler McMurchie said the penalties could turn your life upside down, but it could be even worse.
“The hypothetical scenario we are talking about does not involve anyone being injured or killed, but we know that this is a very real possibility every time someone gets behind the wheel if they are disabled,” he said.
“We ask people with our new campaign to ask themselves, if you are responsible for causing a collision that kills someone as a result of your own decision to drive people with disabilities, could you live with yourself?” We do not want anyone to ever have to face this question or find the answer. “
McMurkey noted, however, that the consequences for people with disabilities can be devastating, even if no one is hurt.
“We often refer to fines, potential imprisonment, suspension of licenses and detention of vehicles, but there are a lot of details that I think people may want to know, and that can help them get to sit down twice. Behind the wheel. if they are damaged, “he said.
“As soon as you are charged, your vehicle is detained right there by the road and detained for 30 days,” McMurchie said. “You also cannot drive other vehicles because you are suspended indefinitely until the charges are heard in court or until you are able to participate in the recording blocking program.”
In fact, a mandatory ignition lock costs $ 1,350. Read more HERE.
There is also a mandatory driver training program for first-time offenders, “driving without a disability,” which costs $ 170 plus a full weekend.
If you have been charged under the Penal Code for exceeding your blood alcohol concentration .08, what follows is the least you can expect with your first offense of perjury and conviction under the Penal Code. For repeated crimes, the penalties can be even more severe – up to and including imprisonment.
Once you are charged, keeping your vehicle for at least 30 days will cost you approximately $ 815 when you return it. Read more HERE.
If you qualify, you can choose to participate in the Ignition Interlock program after 90 days of your suspension. Read more HERE.
Alternatively, you can choose to stay stopped and pay for walks or try to find someone to drive you, which sounds exhausting to some.
“Unfortunately, some drivers choose to drive with a suspended license and face additional fees and vehicle seizures when caught,” SGI said in a statement. “What are the chances of that? In fact, it’s pretty good, thanks to more than 180 vehicles equipped with automatic license plate readers that detect vehicles associated with stopped drivers.”
Once convicted, in addition to all court fees and court costs, here’s what you can expect after being convicted of a first offense for driving with a BAC of .08 or more.
The mandatory minimum penalty under the Penal Code for driving with a BAC equal to or greater than 0.08 is $ 1,000 (up to a maximum of 10 years in prison for this crime), but the consequences – and costs – do not stop there. Read more HERE.
Any penalty for violating a driving conviction will put you at -20 or lower than your SDR score, which means a financial penalty of at least $ 1250. If your previous SDR result meant that you were getting a discount on your vehicle insurance, this also disappeared and it would take three years to drive without causing a collision or getting a ticket before you could win a discount again. Read more HERE.
Following a conviction, there is a minimum requirement to block the ignition before you can regain your license, which will cost approximately $ 1,350. Read more HERE.
A first driving violation means a mandatory Disability-Free Driving class that will cost you $ 170 and a weekend of your time. Read more HERE.
Of course, no matter how bad the suspensions, vehicle retention, fines, blocking and compulsory training are, the other possible result of a broken driving is preferable: causing a collision that kills you or someone else.
Saskatchewan has made tremendous progress in reducing the number of collisions, deaths and injuries caused by disabled drivers. However, there are still too many people who choose to drive after drinking alcohol or drugs. These elections resulted in 21 deaths and 342 injuries in 2019.