What are the charges for drinking and driving?

In my english class we have to do a tv sort of ad for anti- alcohol. So we're basing ours on drinking and driving. For our script we need to know what are the charges for drinking and driving and what if you killed someone while drinking and driving? What would the charges be?

Thanks in advance.

We need the charges for in Canada (Ontario preferably)

~By charges, do you mean legal or financial? The former can be found online in the Ontario penal code or criminal statutes. The obvious would be driving while intoxicated or impaired (by whatever name it is called in Ontario). Then there are the collateral charges such as vehicular homicide, vehicular assault, reckless murder, negligent homicide and others, for which intoxication or impairment and driving are only some of the necessary elements.

Financial charges to the defendant start with the cost of the defense lawyer, followed by the fines and court costs and surcharges upon conviction. Add to that the increase in auto insurance, the administrative costs, if any, pertaining to the license suspension/revocation/restoration and/or conditional license process and possible drug or alcohol rehabilitation program that may be required, and things like ignition interlock systems or electric home monitoring devices if house arrest is imposed at sentence, not to mention the possible civil suit.

Costs to society include things like increased insurance costs for everyone, the cost for enforcement and prosecution, the costs for jails, prisons and probation and parole officers who supervise the sentences, increased welfare costs to support the disabled victims or their unemployed surviving spouses or orphaned children. You get the idea. That last beer on the way home from work or that last glass of champagne at the wedding can get pretty expensive.

By the way, it is NOT illegal to drink and drive. It is illegal to drink TOO MUCH and then get behind the wheel.

The charge for drinking and driving is known as a DUI (Driving Under the Influence) or a DWI (Driving While Intoxicated). Both charges are essentially the same, and are used interchangeably.

DUI's can also come in degrees of severity. This depends on a number of factors: Your level of cooperation with the police, your exact blood alcohol level, your age, and how many other DUI's you have in the past. A first degree DUI is a felony, which means the offender can be sent to jail for a year or more. A second and a third are both gross misdomenors and a fourth is just a misdomenor. Also states will also suspend your drivers licence, for a certain amount of time. The higher degree DUI, the longer your licence is suspended. Around the third or fourth incident, most states revoke your licence for five years.

Anyone who dies because of someones drunk driving is considered a victim of vehicular manslaughter. Manslaughter is the term given when people don't intend to kill anyone, but do because of an accident of some sort. In most cases other than DUI, VM charges aren't severe. Infact, depending on the circumstances, charges may not be made at all. But anyone who kills another person while drunk driving automatically goes to jail for a certain amount of time, depending on the laws of the state they live in.

Edit: And I'm sure that DUI laws are the same in Ontario as they are in the US.