Statutes of Newfoundland and Labrador 2017 Chapter 4

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(Includes details about the availability of printed and electronic versions of the Statutes.)

Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cH-3
as amended

1. (1) Paragraph 60.01(2)(a) of the Highway Traffic Act is repealed and the following substituted:

(a) a driver or person who has care or control of a motor vehicle who is 22 years of age or older and not a novice driver is 50 milligrams or more of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood;

(2) Subsection 60.01(2) of the Act is amended by adding immediately after paragraph (a) the following:

(a.1) a driver or person who has care or control of a motor vehicle who is under 22 years of age and not a novice driver is 0 milligrams or more of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood; and

2. Section 60.03 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Periods of suspension

60.03 (1) Upon a request being made under subsection 60.01(1) or (5) or section 60.1, whether or not the driver or person who has care or control of a motor vehicle surrenders his or her drivers licence to the peace officer, his or her drivers licence or driving privileges are suspended

(a) for a period of 7 days from the time the request is made, where he or she is 22 years of age or older and not a novice driver and he or she fails or refuses to provide a sample of his or her breath or where the analysis under subsection 60.01(1) or (5) indicates that the proportion of alcohol in his or her blood is 50 milligrams or more of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood;

(b) for a period of 7 days from the time the request is made, where he or she is under 22 years of age and not a novice driver and he or she fails or refuses to provide a sample of his or her breath or where the analysis under subsection 60.01(1) or (5) indicates that the proportion of alcohol in his or her blood is greater than 0 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood; and

(c) for a period of 90 days commencing on the fourteenth day after the expiration of the 7 day suspension, where he or she fails or refuses to provide a sample of his or her breath or where the analysis under subsection 60.01(1) or (5) indicates that the proportion of alcohol in his or her blood is 80 milligrams or more of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

(2) Upon a request being made under subsection 60.01(7) or section 60.02 whether or not the driver or person who has care or control of a motor vehicle surrenders his or her driver's licence to the peace officer, his or her driver's licence or driving privileges are suspended

(a) for a period of 7 days from the time the request is made where the peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the ability of the driver or person who has care or control of a motor vehicle is impaired by a drug, or a combination of a drug and alcohol, or where he or she fails or refuses to comply with a demand under section 254 of the Criminal Code; and

(b) for a period of 90 days beginning on the fourteenth day after the expiry of the 7 day suspension, where he or she fails or refuses to comply with a demand made on him or her under section 254 of the Criminal Code.

(3) Upon a request being made under subsection 60.01(1), (5) or (7) or section 60.02, whether or not the novice driver or the novice driver who has care or control of a motor vehicle surrenders his or her drivers licence to the peace officer, his or her drivers licence or driving privileges shall be considered to be suspended by the registrar for a period of

(a) 2 months for the first occasion upon which a request is made under subsection 60.01(1), (5) or (7) or section 60.02;

(b) 4 months for the second occasion upon which a request is made under subsection 60.01(1), (5) or (7) or section 60.02; and

(c) 6 months for a subsequent occasion upon which a request is made under subsection 60.01(1), (5) or (7) or section 60.02

and, following the expiry of a suspension under paragraphs (a), (b) or (c), he or she may apply to the registrar to have his or her drivers licence reinstated commencing at the start of the level and class of drivers licence held by him or her at the time when his or her licence was suspended subject to a fee and in accordance with conditions and requirements which the registrar may impose upon the licence.

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (3), where a novice driver or novice driver who has care or control of a motor vehicle fails or refuses to provide a sample of his or her breath or the analysis under subsection 60.01(1) or (5) indicates that the proportion of alcohol in his or her blood is 80 milligrams or more of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, his or her licence or driving privileges shall be suspended by the registrar for a minimum period of 90 days and the procedure for reinstatement set out in subsection (3) applies.

(5) Notwithstanding subsection (3), upon a request being made under section 60.02, whether or not the novice driver or novice driver who has care or control of the motor vehicle surrenders his or her driver's licence to the peace officer, his or her driver's licence or driving privileges shall be suspended by the registrar for a period of 90 days where he or she fails or refuses to comply with a demand made under section 254 of the Criminal Code, and the procedure for reinstatement set out in subsection (3) applies.

3. (1) Paragraph 60.04(1)(a) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

(a) a driver or a person who has care or control of a motor vehicle who is 22 years of age or older and not a novice driver provides a sample of his or her blood which on analysis indicates that the proportion of alcohol in his or her blood at the time the sample was given was 50 milligrams or more of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, his or her drivers licence or driving privileges are suspended for a period of 7 days beginning on the fourteenth day following his or her receipt of a copy of the certificate of analysis;

(2) Subsection 60.04(1) of the Act is amended by adding immediately after paragraph (a) the following:

(a.1) a driver or a person who has care or control of a motor vehicle who is under 22 years of age and not a novice driver provides a sample of his or her blood which on analysis indicates that the proportion of alcohol in his or her blood at the time the sample was given was greater than 0 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, his or her drivers licence or driving privileges are suspended for a period of 7 days beginning on the fourteenth day following his or her receipt of a copy of the certificate of analysis; and

(3) Subsections 60.04(5) and (6) of the Act are repealed and the following substituted:

(5) Where under section 60.01, 60.02 or 60.1 a drivers licence or driving privileges are suspended, the peace officer who requested the surrender of the drivers licence shall

(a) keep a record of the drivers licence or driving privileges suspended with the name and address of the driver, novice driver or person or novice driver who has care or control of the motor vehicle;

(b) provide the driver, novice driver or person or novice driver who has care or control of the motor vehicle whose driving privileges are suspended with a notice which shall include the time from which the suspension takes effect, the length of the period during which his or her drivers licence is suspended, if known, and shall indicate that the registrar shall inform the novice driver or novice driver who has care or control of the motor vehicle of when he or she may apply for a drivers licence and that notice shall, where the driver, novice driver or person or novice driver who has care or control of the motor vehicle surrenders his or her drivers licence, constitute a receipt of that drivers licence; and

(6) Upon the termination of a 7 day suspension under section 60.03 or this section, the drivers licence shall, if it was surrendered to a peace officer, be returned to the licensee at the address shown on the drivers licence or to another address requested by the licensee.

4. The Act is amended by adding immediately after section 73 the following:

Mandatory use of ignition interlock device

73.1 (1) Where a person is convicted of an offence under section 253, 254 or 255 of the Criminal Code and his or her driver's licence or driving privileges have been suspended or cancelled under section 65, the registrar shall require the use of an ignition interlock device in accordance with the regulations made under section 186 as a condition of reinstatement of the driver's licence or driving privileges for a period of

(a) 12 months in the case of a first conviction;

(b) 36 months in the case of a second conviction entered within 10 years of the first conviction; and

(2) The period referred to in subsection (1) shall start on the reinstatement of the driver's licence or driving privileges after the period of suspension or cancellation of the drivers licence or driving privileges expires.

(3) Where the registrar reinstates a driver's licence or driving privileges subject to the condition that an ignition interlock device is used before the period of suspension or cancellation expires, the period under subsection (1) shall start after the period of suspension or cancellation of the drivers licence or driving privileges would have expired if that person's driver's licence or driving privileges had not been reinstated.

5. (1) Subsection 186(1) of the Act is amended by adding immediately after paragraph (i.1) the following:

(i.2) providing for the seizure and impoundment of motor vehicles by a peace officer where the proportion of alcohol in the blood of a driver or person who has care or control of the motor vehicle meets or exceeds the prohibited proportion or the driver or person who has care or control of the motor vehicle fails or refuses to comply with a demand of a peace officer under section 254 of the Criminal Code, and in particular,

(i) prescribing the proportion of alcohol in the blood that is prohibited while operating or having care or control of a vehicle,

(ii) requiring that a notice of seizure be given to the driver and sent to the registrar and the owner of the vehicle, and prescribing the timing and form of this notice,

(iii) prescribing the period of impoundment,

(iv) prescribing the circumstances under which an owner may apply for the early release of a vehicle,

(v) providing for an appeal of a decision on an application for early release of a vehicle,

(vi) prescribing the fees to be paid in relation to the impoundment and release of the vehicle, and

(vii) prescribing the types of fees and charges that shall be a lien on the impounded vehicle, the priority of those liens and how those liens may be enforced, including the sale or other disposal of the vehicle by the garage operator who takes and stores the seized and impounded vehicle or by the registrar, which sale or other disposal may vary according to the value of the vehicle; and

(2) Paragraph 186(1)(j) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

(j) respecting the mandatory use of an ignition interlock device under section 73.1 and providing for the establishment of an ignition interlock program in one or more designated parts of the province allowing persons whose driver's licence or driving privileges have been suspended to apply for reinstatement under prescribed conditions including the use of an ignition interlock device, including

(i) approving ignition interlock devices,

(ii) prescribing standards and duties with respect to the installation, operation and maintenance of approved ignition interlock devices,

(iii) providing for the payment of expenses and fees respecting the installation, use, maintenance and removal of ignition interlock devices,

(iv) providing a method to determine whether an approved ignition interlock device is in place in a vehicle where it is required and whether it is working,

(v) extending the period during which an ignition interlock device shall be used,

(vi) providing penalties for a person who drives a motor vehicle that is not equipped with an approved ignition interlock device while prohibited from doing so,

(vii) providing penalties for tampering with or removing an ignition interlock device,

(viii) providing penalties for assisting a person with the improper use of an ignition interlock device, and

(ix) prescribing criteria for eligibility in the ignition interlock program and for the removal of an ignition interlock device once installed.

Transitional

6. Where a person was convicted of an offence under section 253, 254 or 255 of the Criminal Code before the coming into force of this Act, the registrar shall not require the use of an ignition interlock device as a condition of reinstatement of a driver's licence or driving privileges as though this Act were not in force.

Commencement

7. This Act comes into force 6 months after the day on which it receives Royal Assent.