PLEA gratefully acknowledges our primary core funder the Law Foundation of Saskatchewan for their continuing and generous support of our organization.
It is not only the criminal law that creates offences for impaired driving. Provincial laws in Saskatchewan do as well. They include serious consequences for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
There are serious, non-criminal penalties for people who drive after drinking or taking drugs. In some case, having any amount of drugs or alcohol in your system when you drive is a violation. In other cases, an amount well below what would be a criminal offence is still a violation of provincial laws. The consequences under provincial law can be added on top of criminal penalties as well.
BAC is one method used to determine whether a driver has been drinking alcohol. The amount of alcohol in your blood can be detected through breath tests. Roadside breath tests will generally indicate a result of pass, warning or fail. On the other hand, breathalyzer machines indicate a precise blood-alcohol reading as a percentage. For example, a BAC of .04% means that you have 40 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood.
It is against the law for new drivers or drivers under 21 years of age to drive after drinking any amount of alcohol or taking any drugs. The term new driver includes:
The GDL program lasts for a minimum of 18 months after someone first receives their driver’s licence. Driving suspensions, traffic tickets and at-fault collisions will extend the time a new driver is in the program.
Research shows that driving is still a significant cognitive task for new drivers. Even low levels of alcohol or other drugs can produce a marked impairment. According to MADD, traffic collisions are the single largest cause of death among 15-24 year olds. Alcohol and drug impairment is a factor in over half of those collisions.
Under provincial law, it is illegal for any driver to have a BAC of .04 or higher. It is also illegal for any driver to have any amount of drugs, such as cannabis, in their system. For the purpose of this law, a drug is considered any substance that causes or could cause a driver to operate a vehicle unsafely.
Alcohol decreases a person’s ability to drive a motor vehicle safely. The more you drink, the greater the effect. The amount of alcohol required to become impaired differs according to how fast you drink, your weight, your gender, and how much food you have in your stomach. Because of these variables, the safest choice is always not to drink and drive.
Although these are provincial and not criminal offences, there are still serious consequences. The penalties also increase in severity when a person breaks these laws multiple times. For all the offences below, only convictions within the last 10 years count in determining how many offences a person has.
Vehicle owners should ensure that people who drive their vehicle do so legally and responsibly. Owners are generally responsible for their vehicle even if they are not the driver.
Ignition interlock requires drivers to provide a breath sample before the vehicle will start. It will prevent the vehicle from starting if alcohol is detected. It also requires and records random breath samples while the vehicle is running. You will be responsible for installation and maintenance costs.
For more information, see our page on the Safe Driver Recognition Program.
PLEA offers free online training on preventing and addressing workplace harassment.