Table 4
Selected characteristics of impaired driving cases completed by criminal courts, by alcohol impairment, drug impairment or impairment by a combination of alcohol and drugs, Canada, 2018/2019 and 2010/2011 to 2018/2019


Table 4
Selected characteristics of impaired driving cases completed by criminal courts, by alcohol impairment, drug impairment or impairment by a combination of alcohol and drugs, Canada, 2018/2019 and 2010/2011 to 2018/2019
Table summary
This table displays the results of Selected characteristics of impaired driving cases completed by criminal courts. The information is grouped by Characteristics (appearing as row headers), 2010/2011 to 2018/2019 and 2018/2019 (appearing as column headers).
Characteristics 2010/2011 to 2018/2019 2018/2019
Alcohol Drugs Combination of alcohol and drugs Alcohol Drugs Combination of alcohol and drugs
Selected characteristics of the accused
Proportion of accused who were men (%) 80.2 77.4 79.5 77.4 76.5 78.2
Median age of accused (years) 34 33 33 35 32 33
Selected characteristics of cases
Median number of charges in cases 2 1 2 2 1 2
Proportion involving a charge of impaired driving causing death or bodily harm 0.8 1.3 2.3 0.7 1.2 1.0
Average number of court appearances 5.2 7.7 4.5 5.5 7.8 4.5
Median processing time (days) 114 225 71 115 211 64
Cases that resulted in a guilty finding (%) 81.9 64.3 78.4 82.0 70.0 79.5
Cases with a "not guilty" plea that resulted in a guilty finding (%) 41.3 30.4 27.6 42.5 35.4 20.8
Selected sentences for guilty casesTable 4 Note 1
Fine (%) 88.6 87.7 84.1 87.6 84.6 87.9
Average amount of fines ($) 1,267 1,177 1,299 1,311 1,200 1,384
Probation (%) 11.2 15.1 12.3 12.3 18.8 13.4
Average length of probation sentences (days) 390 418 386 405 433 318
Custody (incarceration) (%) 8.7 8.0 11.4 7.9 9.7 9.6
Average length of custody sentences (days) 82 119 78 81 129 84
Prohibition order (%) 90.4 91.7 91.6 96.0 93.1 96.8
Note 1

Sentences are not mutually exclusive and won't total 100%.

Return to note 1 referrer

Note: A case is defined as one or more charges against an accused person that were processed at the same time and received a final decision. Cases with more than one charge are represented by the most serious offence. Data exclude incidents where police noted impairment by an unspecified substance. Before 2019, the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey did not include a code for impaired driving involving a combination of alcohol and drugs. However, police could provide up to four offence codes. As a result, in this analysis, cases where police had provided an offence code for alcohol-impaired driving and another for drug-impaired driving were classified in the “Alcohol and drugs” category. The data exclude information from the superior courts of Prince Edward Island (years before 2018/2019), Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and the municipal courts of Quebec because of the unavailability of data.
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey and Integrated Criminal Court Survey (combined file).
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