M.J. Moye

M.J. Moye is a Nova Scotia freelance writer/editor who has written about legal issues for over three decades. His interest in the law began while working as a reporter in North Carolina, where his coverage included law enforcement and the courts. This interest expanded when he moved to Washington, DC, where he covered legal issues—including two precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court cases—for Inside Washington and then edited a legal digest for a lobbying firm. Since going freelance in 1998, he has written for 12 different law firms and currently writes for two Toronto-area and two Florida-based law firms. In addition to legal issues, M.J. Moye specializes in demographics and is co-author of “Upside: Profiting from the Profound Demographic Shifts Ahead.”

Latest Posts

If Canadian police arrest you for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol or drugs, you’re probably going to have a lot to worry about. In the near term, you might wonder how long police will hold you in custody, how you’ll get home, and how the vehicle impoundment and roadside driver’s license suspension might affect you. Longer-term concerns might include how to fight the charges, what happens if you lose your license, and how much the ordeal might cost.

The potential financial impact of a DUI ...

When driving the streets and highways of Ontario, the last thing you want to see in the rear-view mirror is flashing blue lights. If you’re looking through the side mirror, those blue lights may be “closer than they appear,” but they’re going to catch up to you unless you decide to make a run for it.

Naturally, the criminal defence lawyers of TorontoDUI would advise you against such a rash move. The consequences will likely be more severe than they would have had you taken the correct lawful ...

Earlier this month, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and emergency services responded to a single-car rollover crash that was allegedly caused by a deer on the road that disrupted the driver’s attempt to multitask. According to police, the driver and a passenger were trying to have sexual intercourse when the driver had to swerve to avoid the wayward deer, causing the car to hit a tree before rolling over in a ditch.

The 20-year-old driver was charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and being a novice driver with ...

Memorize the following list and recite it to yourself if you ever find yourself behind the steering wheel of your vehicle, contemplating whether you are sober enough to drive:

One-year license suspension.
Medical evaluation to determine driving fitness.
$1,000 fine (and other fees).
Mandatory enrollment in Ontario’s “Back on Track” education/treatment program before license reinstatement.
One year use of ignition interlock device upon license reinstatement.
A criminal record.

Those are the court-mandated penalties that will be handed down to you if you are convicted of a first-time ...

If you are arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol and/or drugs in Canada, you face significant penalties if convicted of the charges in court. Most Greater Toronto Area clients who seek the expertise of the criminal defence lawyers of TorontoDUI express concerns about the impact these penalties might have on them. In particular, they worry about the possible suspension of their driver’s license, fines, mandatory participation in alcohol education/treatment programs, and big hikes to their auto insurance premiums.

However, relatively few clients express initial ...

Commercial drivers generally have a greater responsibility than the average motorist to drive safely. Drivers of buses, taxis, and other passenger-carrying vehicles are responsible for the safety of their passengers. Commercial truck drivers are obviously responsible for their loads, but most also drive larger vehicles that typically cause significantly more damage in motor vehicle accidents than passenger cars and trucks. According to Ontario driving statistics, accidents involving large trucks caused 23% of the province’s traffic accident fatalities in 2017, more than any other contributing cause.

Given this heightened responsibility ...

Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) charged two motorists in as many days with going more than double the speed limit on Greater Toronto Area highways after the Thanksgiving long weekend. On Oct. 12^th, Aurora OPP arrested a Newmarket driver for driving 221 km/h on the 404’s southbound lane in the York region. This was followed on Oct. 13^th by Brampton OPP, who charged an Etobicoke driver for going 201 km/h on Highway 410. Not to be outdone by their urban counterparts, a motorist in Ontario’s ...

As a frequent reader of our “Knowledge Centre” blog posts, you probably know that Americans and other foreigners who have been arrested for DUI-related offences face significant challenges in trying to enter our country. If not, you must have missed our “Can I enter Canada if I’ve Been Charged with a DUI in the U.S.?” blog post. To recap that article, 50 million Americans are potentially ineligible for admission into our country due to a DUI arrest, and Canada can — and often does — deny entry to any foreign ...

Canadian motorists are often surprised to learn that refusing or failing to comply with an officer's demand to submit to roadside standardized field sobriety testing (SFST) is a criminal offence that carries the same penalties as a DUI conviction. In 2022, Canadian police charged more than 3,500 motorists with failing to comply with an SFST demand or other roadside screening, according to Statistics Canada.

When police make an SFST demand, motorists only have a few moments to decide whether to submit to the testing or risk arrest. With ...

If you're a big soap opera fan, you probably know that Emmy Award-winning “General Hospital" star Haley Pullos is taking a leave of absence from her role as Molly Lansing-Davis due to injuries sustained in an April 29th Los Angeles-area freeway accident. “Unfortunately, I was involved in an automobile accident, and I'm doing okay, but I am going to need a little time to recover," the actress told Soap Opera Digest 10 days after the accident.

It took the news media another week to figure out that police ...