DUI Suspects' Cars Seized and Sold
Guilty?
Innocent?
Whatever.
Either way, the car is gone.
Drivers in Ontario, Canada who are in the habit of drinking and driving may now lose their vehicles under a new forfeiture law. Actually, the law doesn't even require the driver to have a habit of drinking and driving. Under the new law, any person with a history of being accused of DUI is at risk of losing their vehicles - no crime required!
The new DUI law in Ontario went into effect in February and allows vehicles that have been used in two or more "DUI incidents" within a period of 10 years to be permanently seized. This means that anyone in Ontario who has ever been arrested for suspicion of DUI, regardless of the outcome of the case, has one strike against them. With the next accusation, whether valid or not, the vehicle can be seized.
After a driver is arrested for suspicion of DUI in Ontario, the history of the vehicle they were driving at the time of their arrest is examined. If the vehicle they were driving has been involved in any previous DUI incidents within the past 10 years, it is seized.
Seized vehicles are then sold at public auctions. All of the proceeds are given to victims of crime in Ontario.
Since the law went into effect, three vehicles have been seized.
The most recent vehicle that was seized was a GMC pickup truck. The truck was taken from a man who has been convicted of DUI three times in the past 10 years. It will soon go on the auction block.
According to a report by Sun Media, Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley says that a DUI conviction is absolutely not necessary for a vehicle to be seized. He says that if a driver has had their license suspended two or more times for suspicion of DUI, the vehicle can be permanently taken from them without regard to the DUI history of the vehicle.
The national president for Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Canada approves of the new law. Margaret Miller says that the threat of the permanent loss of a vehicle will be a good deterrent to keep people from drinking and driving in Ontario.
But will it deter the police from making inappropriate DUI arrests? The law makes it possible for people who have actually never driven drunk to lose their vehicles.
Miller says the law will be good for all of the people in Ontario. Let's see if the innocent people who lose their vehicles feel the same way.
