Quote:
Originally Posted by sebberry
Where precisely does "care and control" take effect?
If you're at home, drunk, and your car is in the driveway, does that qualify as "care and control" for the purpose of being charged?
If you're at home, drunk, and your car is in the garage you enter to get another beer out of the fridge, does that qualify?
If your car is parked in a parkade downtown, and you're drunk, and you are walking towards the parkade because you see an empty taxi you want to take home, does that qualify?
What if en route to get the taxi you stop at your car to grab your jacket, does that qualify?
Does being charge for impaired driving because you have "care and control" not require an element of intent to drive? If not, then you're guilty in all of the above situations simply because you had the ability to drive.
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To my understanding, the accused who is found in the
driver's seat of a motor vehicle shall be deemed to have had "care and control" of it, UNLESS s/he can establish that s/he was not in the seat for the purpose of setting the vehicle in motion. It's s. 258 of the
Criminal Code.
An individual found in the driver's seat, impaired, will be
presumptively guilty of impaired care and control.
The accused may rebut this presumption, though. S/he will have to call evidence to establish that s/he didn't pose a realistic and/or
inherent risk of harm
Technically, it violates the presumption of innocence; but, the SCC has held that it's a "reasonable limitation" under section 1 of the
Charter. The objective of protecting the public from drunk drivers is "sufficiently important to warrant overriding a constitutionally protected right."
I agree.
Therefore, if you turnt up too hard, don't get into the driver's seat
source: my crim law notes