The Screening Device and Sobriety Exercises

The first step in many impaired driving investigations is a demand by a police officer that a driver blow in a screening device, or perform sobriety tests at the side of the road.

Sobriety tests include the pen test, the one-leg-stand test and the walk-and-turn test. They can also include tests with even less scientific validity, like picking up coins or counting backward. The only tests that the driver must perform are those prescribed by regulation. Demanding that a driver perform these tests is, in most cases, a violation of the Charter of Rights. The evidence will not be admissible in court to prove impairment, although a failure to perform them satisfactorily may provide the officer with justification for a breath demand.

The roadside screening device is a handheld breathalyzer. If it is properly calibrated, it is supposed to detect blood alcohol levels above .10 mg. The law permits a police officer to demand a sample of a driver's breath if the officer suspects that the driver has alcohol in his body. If the driver refuses to provide a sample, the police will lay a charge of refusing a breath sample. The driver's Charter rights are suspended - he or she is not allowed to contact a lawyer until after the test is taken. A fail reading will not be admissible at the driver's trial, but it will give the officer grounds to demand a full breathalyzer test.

Attacking the evidence obtained at the roadside is one of the first lines of a successful defence. We defend drivers: contact us.