Dangerous Driving

Dangerous Driving is a criminal charge under the Criminal Code of Canada.  Persons convicted of dangerous driving receive a criminal record and usually will lose the right to drive a motor vehicle in Canada for at least one year.

A charge of driving dangerously is laid by a police officer when they believe a motor vehicle has been driven in a manner that is dangerous to the public.

Many times dangerous driving is described as “with intent to operating a motor vehicle with wantless and reckless disregard for public safety”.

The penalties for dangerous driving are imposed by the judge upon conviction and may include:

• jail
• fines
• probation
• criminal record for life,
• licence suspensions

Drivers convicted of dangerous driving may see their insurance impose high rates, cancel insurance coverage or put the driver in facility rated insurance.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation will impose a mandatory one (1) year licence suspension upon the conviction of a dangerous driving charge. Criminal driving convictions are kept on drivers records/abstracts for ten (10) years.

Dangerous driving maybe defined as: Operating a motor vehicle with wanton and reckless disregard for the lives and safety of others.

The criminal code lists 3 different situations where an accused maybe charged:

Dangerous operation

• 320.13 (1) Everyone commits an offence who operates a conveyance in a manner that, having regard to all of the circumstances, is dangerous to the public.

Operation causing bodily harm

• (2) Everyone commits an offence who operates a conveyance in a manner that, having regard to all of the circumstances, is dangerous to the public and, as a result, causes bodily harm to another person.

Operation causing death

• (3) Everyone commits an offence who operates a conveyance in a manner that, having regard to all of the circumstances, is dangerous to the public and, as a result, causes the death of another person.

Where the police charge a driver with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, the prosecution must prove four (4) things:

• intent to commit the act,
• happened in a place where the public had access to,
• involved a motor vehicle as defined by the Criminal Code of Canada,
• the driving action was dangerous.

Intent in legal terms is called “Mens Rea“, having a guilty mind. The driver must of “intended to commit the offence”, meaning the driver must have:

• planned to drive in dangerous manner, and/or
• that the driver intended to do the act.

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Many times in a bad accidents, the police officer may feel the situation warrants more than a traffic ticket.

The police believe they must charge the driver with the most serious charge of dangerous driving, so that the driver receives the maximum penalty.

Although what happened may have been a horrible situation, most accidents do not fall into the legal definition of dangerous driving.

The reason being, that most accidents are not planned or intended. In most accidents there was no intent for the accident to have occured.

Accidents are usually as a result of driver error, not intentional bad or dangerous driving.  Should you or a loved one be charged with Dangerous Driving as a result of an accident, call and we’ll explain how we can get the charge dropped.

Dangerous driving charges require intent. In considering whether a driver is guilty of dangerous driving, the court must consider did the driver intend to drive dangerously or did an unplanned accident happen?

In legal terms this is called “Mens Rea” (Latin, to have a guilty mind, you intended to commit the act) to commit the act.

Did the driver:

• drive dangerously,
• was the incident an unplanned accident,
• or was the driver just driving carelessly?

There is a difference between driving dangerously and an accident.

In bad accidents where the driver was driving without due care and attention, the dangerous driving charge must be dismissed, because a conviction for dangerous driving requires intent.

You may feel that if the police have arrested you that you’re guilty, which is wrong. It is your right under Canadian law to have a Judge hear what happened and for the judge to make a decision, not the police. Only a judge can decide your guilt or innocence and there are defences to dangerous driving.

Just because the police charged you, doesn’t mean your guilty. When we discuss your charge we’ll explain how we can help you.  With charges like dangerous driving there are numerous legal defences to the charge and we have always been able to help our clients.

Call to discuss your case today >

Want legal advice or like to speak to a lawyer? The first step is to give us a call at 416-731-7113.

There is no fee or obligation to call and speak to us.  The discussion is held with complete privacy and confidence with the lawyer.

The lawyer will be able to give you an opinion about your case, and tell you:

• possible defences to the charge
• legal arguments in your case
• what you can do to help your case
• what the cost to defend the accusation would be

Where you decide to retain our services we will invite you to meet in our Toronto office or have a face to face Zoom online meeting.

In that meeting we’ll discuss the case in detail, plan your defence and arrange for the first court date.

We ask for a reasonable deposit upon retaining our services of 10 to 25 percent.