Impaired Driving (Nova Scotia)

*Generally, the Criminal Code is the basis for impaired driving charges, but there may be supplementary sanctions under provincial law.

According to provincial government statistics, alcohol-related accidents claim the lives of 22 Nova Scotians on average each year. The province also found that the average blood alcohol content of those convicted of an impaired driving offence in Nova Scotia is .16 percent, twice the legal level.

In 2010, the government introduced laws to punish those caught driving after drinking even if they weren't considered legally impaired under Canada's Criminal Code. Those who register a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of between .05 and .08 automatically lose their licence for seven days and must pay an administrative fee to get it back. A BAC of .08 or higher will result in criminal charges.

Each province and territory in Canada is responsible for its roadways. Nova Scotia governs the rights and responsibilities of its drivers under the Traffic Safety Act (TSA), which includes laws to deal with impaired driving. These drivers can also be charged under Canada's Criminal Code, with penalties that can include life in prison for impaired driving causing death.

You can be convicted of impaired driving if you drive with a BAC equal to or over 80 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood, or .08. However, alcohol is not the only substance that can affect your driving ability. Illegal drugs and cannabis, over-the-counter drugs, and prescription medications can impair your motor skills, especially when combined with alcohol.

According to the Nova Scotia government, some medications cause inattention and drowsiness. They list several drugs, such as antidepressants, codeine and steroids, that can impact your sobriety. Police can also charge you with driving under the influence of illicit drugs and cannabis.

While cannabis is legal in Canada, driving while under the influence of it is not. It is an offence to have between two and five nanograms of THC (the primary psychoactive component of cannabis) per ml of blood when operating a vehicle. Driving with a reading of five ng or more of THC per ml of blood is an even more serious offenceAn indictable offence with a maximum punishment of five years or more.. The combined prohibited levels of alcohol and cannabis are 50mg or more of alcohol per 100 ml of blood and 2.5 ng or more of THC per ml of blood.

Nova Scotia has a zero-tolerance policy for new drivers under its Graduated Drivers Licence system.

The federal government introduced mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) in December 2018. MAS allows police to demand a breath test from a driver at a roadside stop without reasonable suspicion that they have alcohol in their body. Prior to the new legislation, police could only demand a test if there was proof you had been drinking, such as having slurred speech or the smell of alcohol was detected.

You cannot escape punishment by failing to provide a breath sample. In Nova Scotia, it is a criminal offence to refuse to take any of the tests police demand. You could be fined a minimum of $2,000 and lose your licence for a first offence.

If police reasonably suspect you are impaired, you will be asked for a breath sample. Police in Nova Scotia uses an SL2 roadside screening device that will indicate "pass," "warn," or "fail."

A reading of "warn" means you have a BC of between .05 and .08. What happens next will depend on whether you have been caught driving impaired in the past 10 years. Police can issue an immediate seven-day, 15-day or 30-day suspension of your licence.

If the device registers a "fail," you will be arrested and taken to a police station and asked to take a breathalyzer test. If you register a BAC of .08 or over, you will be criminally charged and face a court trial.

Alcohol interlock is a device installed on your ignition that takes breath samples. Your vehicle will not start if alcohol is detected. While the vehicle is running, the device requires you to provide breath samples at random times. If a sample is not provided or your blood alcohol content is over the limit, the device will log the event, warn you and trigger an alarm that will sound until the ignition is turned off.

You may be required to have the device installed in order to have your licence reinstated. You can choose to participate after your first conviction. However, the program is mandatory if you have two more or convictions, if you have been convicted of impaired driving causing bodily harm or death or if your addictions services counsellor has rated you are a high risk to re-offend.

Impaired driving has two separate layers of consequences in Nova Scotia. The first is the criminal charge under the Criminal Code of Canada — the same offence, penalties and mandatory minimums everywhere in Canada. The second is Nova Scotia’s own administrative layer — licence suspensions, vehicle impoundment and program requirements that are not a criminal conviction and can apply even before, or without, a criminal charge.

For the criminal charge and the penalties that apply everywhere in Canada, see Impaired Driving.

Roadside alcohol and drug screening suspensions

If a police officer suspects a driver has been drinking or using drugs, they can demand a roadside breath sample. The device reads “Pass,” “Warn,” or “Fail.” The officer must ask the driver to hand over their licence right away, and the suspension takes effect immediately — before any court date.

• A “Warn” reading means blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is 50 mg or more, but under 80 mg, of alcohol in 100 mL of blood (0.05 to 0.08). This triggers an immediate licence suspension: 7 days for a first such suspension in the past 10 years, 15 days for a second, or 30 days for a third or later one (Motor Vehicle Act s. 279C).
• A “Fail” reading means a BAC of 0.08 or more — the same concentration that is the threshold for the criminal charge under the Criminal Code. That BAC, or a refusal or failure to provide a sample, triggers its own immediate 90-day provincial licence suspension. This provincial suspension is a separate administrative action from the criminal charge itself, even though the BAC number that triggers it is the same (Motor Vehicle Act s. 279A).
• Reasonable suspicion that a driver is impaired by a drug can also trigger an immediate licence suspension, on the same 7, 15, or 30-day scale described above depending on how many such suspensions the driver has had in the past 10 years (Motor Vehicle Act s. 279K).

Zero tolerance for new drivers

Drivers in Nova Scotia’s Graduated Driver Licensing system — the Learner’s, Newly Licensed, and Restricted stages — are held to a zero-tolerance standard, not the 0.05 or 0.08 thresholds described above. Any detectable alcohol above zero, or any detected drug presence, brings an immediate 24-hour licence suspension (Motor Vehicle Act ss. 100A, 100B, 279L).

Other short-term unfit-to-drive suspension

Separately, any driver in Nova Scotia can be suspended for up to 24 hours if an officer has reasonable grounds to believe they are unfit to drive for any reason, including a medical one. This short-term suspension is part of the same provincial unfit-to-drive framework as the alcohol- and drug-specific suspensions above, not a criminal charge (Motor Vehicle Act s. 279I).

Vehicle impoundment

Vehicle impoundment is a different mechanism from the roadside suspensions above. It applies when someone is caught driving while their licence is already revoked because of a Criminal Code impaired-driving conviction — not to the roadside stop itself. In that situation, the vehicle can be impounded: 90 days the first time this happens, or 180 days if it has happened before (Motor Vehicle Act s. 291A).

Licence revocation after a Criminal Code conviction

A conviction for impaired operation, refusal, or a related Criminal Code offence brings an automatic provincial licence revocation on top of whatever the criminal court itself orders: 1 year for a first revocation, 3 years for a second, and indefinite revocation for a third or later one, counting back over the previous 10 years (Motor Vehicle Act s. 67(5)(ba)).

Getting a licence back: rehabilitation program and reinstatement

Reinstating a licence that was revoked, or suspended under s. 279A, for an alcohol-related offence requires completing a designated alcohol rehabilitation program before the licence is restored (Motor Vehicle Act s. 67(11)). Reinstatement fees, towing and storage costs, interlock costs, or program fees may also apply.

Ignition interlock

The Alcohol Ignition Interlock Program lets some drivers back on the road earlier, but only in a vehicle fitted with a breath-testing device wired into the ignition. The Registrar can require participation as a condition of restoring a licence, and for higher-risk or repeat cases it is mandatory rather than optional (Motor Vehicle Act ss. 67(11A), 280A). There is also a minimum wait before applying: whatever period a court sets for a first revocation, 3 months for a second, 6 months for a third, and 10 years for a fourth revocation (Alcohol Ignition Interlock Program Regulations s. 5(2)(b)).

These provincial suspensions, revocations, and impoundments run alongside — not instead of — anything that happens in criminal court. A driver can lose their licence at the roadside under Nova Scotia’s Motor Vehicle Act the same day they are charged federally, while the criminal case proceeds separately under the Criminal Code, with its own fines, mandatory minimum penalties, and, in serious cases, jail time, along with a possible court-ordered driving prohibition under Criminal Code s. 320.24. That federal driving prohibition is a separate criminal-court order from the provincial licence suspensions and revocations described above. Those federal penalties are the same across every province and territory and are covered on this site’s federal impaired-driving page rather than repeated here.