Holiday Safety

By: The Mike Murphy Accident Team

During this holiday season, ensure that you plan your way home before indulging in alcoholic beverages or cannabis. The rates of driving while intoxicated tend to be higher during the holiday season and there is additional enforcement throughout the holiday season.

19 people lost their lives as a result of impaired driving in New Brunswick in 2018. Before heading out to a holiday gathering, ensure you plan ahead on a way home. You could:

• Take transit;

• Call a taxi;

• Ensure there is a designated driver to drive you; or

• Stay over at your friends’ house.

Under the Motor Vehicle Act, in New Brunswick if you have a blood alcohol content (“BAC”) between 0.05 and 0.079, the first offence is a seven day licence suspension, the second is 15 day suspension, and the third is a 30 day suspension. Please note that this is below the ‘legal limit’ of BAC allowed under the Criminal Code.

Under the Criminal Code, a BAC of 0.08 or higher is at minimum a $1,000 fine (it goes up depending on BAC)

Wishing you all a safe and happy Holiday season!

DISCLAIMER: The publications on this website are intended to provide information of a general nature and not legal advice. The information contained in this publication is current to the date of the publication and may be subject to change following the publication date.