ajay677

The province of Ontario announced last week that people convicted of their 3rd drunk drivng offence in ten years will have their vehicle seized and forfeited to the Crown.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/0...iving_seizures

Wed Feb 20, 9:06 AM

By The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Drunk drivers in Ontario could lose their cars, trucks, motorcycles or snowmobiles under a new provincial law that takes effect Wednesday.

It allows the courts to impound a vehicle involved in a drinking and driving offence if it was also owned or driven by someone whose licence was suspended for drinking and driving at least twice in the last 10 years.

The vehicle can then be sold, and any victims of the drunk driving incident can apply for compensation from the proceeds.

Not to be outdone, the province of British Columbia announced they plan to use civil forfeiture laws to seize and sell the cars of drunk drivers. Their plan will target even first offenders, usually after their involvement in a drinking related accident.

https://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=332235

B.C. to seize drunk drivers' vehicles

Ethan Baron And Stuart Hunter, Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, February 25, 2008


VANCOUVER -- British Columbia plans to begin seizing and selling vehicles of impaired drivers, Solicitor-General John Les says.

He is inviting police across B.C. to bring him accident cases involving drunk drivers so his ministry's Civil Forfeiture Office can use existing legislation to begin permanently confiscating such vehicles.

Maybe this is something that will make the roads safer for cyclists and all other road users.

yakmurph

Good news.
Even better: I never expect good news to be associated with drinking and operating a vehicle.

John E

It's about time.

genec

Of course they DO have to have 3 strikes...

bigboots

Like the poster said, they still have 3 strikes, or three dead victims, so I really like the BC proposed law much better! In the United Stupid States of Amoco, a smart law like either of those would NEVER be allowed- take a moment to bow to the nearest automobile...

maddyfish

It's a start, I have advocated for this for years. No sucess here of course.

crhilton

What was wrong with first offense?

JusticeZero

Alaska confiscates cars on DWI's, and publicizes the fact rather extensively. I don't recall the exact details, as I rarely drive and never drink.

Dchiefransom

So, since they are seizing the cars of the people that cause 40% of the deaths annually, what about the other 60%? When will THEY start losing their vehicles?

fordfasterr

Great question !

tandemedge

DChief .... I agree but it would be a great start to remove the 40% that are true morons.

bkaapcke

In Sweden you lose your license for life on the first DUI. bk

unkchunk

Wow, Yahoo Canada still lets readers post comments.

Oh... the article. Yeah, uhm... I don't know if it's going to work. Serial drunk drivers (don't know the technical legal term) don't seem to let not having a license or even a car stop them. The article wasn't real cleat on this, but they need to extend confiscation program to the people who lend their cars to drunk drivers too. If they didn't lend the car, then the drunk driver gets an auto theft arrest. Either way the drunk driver will be off the road for a while.

crhilton

I think you're right. But this is probably the best way to go. It's a big financial incentive, even if it's a crappy cheap car.

The trick is that once their license is revoked for this you confiscate _any_ car they're caught driving. Leave it up to whomever they borrowed it from to sue them in the civil courts.

mconlonx

<snip>
Like the poster said, they still have 3 strikes, or three dead victims...
</snip>

Melodrama much?

Three DUI convictions don't necessarily mean three deaths. Sometimes yes, sometimes more, but I'd bet most times less.

Maybe it's a good thing most police are ignorant of bicycle law--imagine if they cracked down on drunken riding?

Say, does anyone know how many of the 700-someodd bicycle deaths (2006 figures, I think) in the US are due to DUI drivers?

musicsucks

from what i've heard, the vehicle gets seized regardless if the driver owns it or not.

bike2math

My understanding was that many states had something like this for drug felonies committed inside of a car. In light of that it doesn't seem like it works very well as a deterent. I mean, I'm all for it as a punishment, it certainly fits the crime, however, expecting it to have any effect on the number of DUI's or repeat DUI's is wishful thinking. I think our culture has to change before we will see a drop in DUI's.

Eli_Damon

I would much prefer that their licenses be revoked. I don't see the logic in seizing their vehicles. It's basically the same as a fine except that it is a lot more expensive for the province/state to collect.

piper_chuck

Revoking licenses doesn't work. The news media is full of reports of people with revoked licenses causing accidents. Someone who is inclined to drive drunk isn't going to stop and think, hmmm, I better not drive, my license was revoked.

Trucker_JDub

Actually this is already the law in most states. It come down to if your local government wants to enforce it. A friend of mine just got a DUI and reckless driving in Ca and the judge told her next time she did ether he would confiscate her SUV and it would be auctioned off. This was her first offense. She didn't hurt any one or any thing (not that this makes it ok). BTW her SUV is not paid off. If the judge takes it she will still have to pay it off even if she doesn't have it any more

JusticeZero

Well, not only is it a fine, but it renders them immediately unable to continue to drive around endangering people.

Pig_Chaser

It's a fantastic deterent that will make the average person think long and hard about drinking and driving. Allot of people have a few drinks and decide to 'risk it' in order to skimp out on a cab fare. Will it prevent all drinking and driving, of course not. Nothing short of the death penalty on first offence will do that (and that will only prevent the 2nd offence ). But you know what's better than doing nothing? Doing something. Is it merely a fine, maybe, but it's also like a punishment. As we all know and habitually poke fun of here, people treat thier cars like children (sometimes better). Taking away thier precious vehicle is like a slap to the face more so than any fine would be. Anything to get drunks off the road is a good thing in my opinion.

donnamb 

Good for Ontario & B.C.!