Toronto, Ontario – Safe driving advocacy group Arrive Alive reports that many Ontario drivers are unaware of some or all the penalties for impaired driving, especially since the province legislated new laws in May 2009.

According to Arrive Alive Drive Sober, drivers should know:

- Drivers will be immediately suspended and taken off the road at a blood alcohol level of .05 and will lose their licenses for 3 to 30 days (.08 is the criminal record). Drivers can be charged with impaired driving irrespective of their blood alcohol levels.

- A first-time impaired driving conviction will cost a driver more than $20,000 for fines, fees, education, insurance, legal and other costs if he or she wants to drive again.

- Consequences for impaired driving include the loss of a regular valid driver’s license in Ontario for more than two years, and an ignition interlock device will be part of the reinstatement process, even for a first-time offender.

- Impaired boaters lose their driver’s license and face all the consequences for impaired driving.

- The maximum penalty for impaired driving causing death is life in prison.