Impaired Driving Arrests and Case Outcomes — DUI Statistics in Canada

In 2021, Statistics Canada released a comprehensive report — " Impaired driving in Canada, 2019 " — filled with interesting DUI stats. For example, consider this 2019 DUI data:

• "Ontario had the lowest rate of police-reported impaired driving incidents among the provinces."
• "[T]he rate of police-reported incidents of impaired driving (228 per 100,000 population) was up 19% from the previous year."
• "Just over half (56%) of impaired driving incidents reported by police were cleared by charge."
• "Police reported 66 incidents of impaired driving causing death," the lowest number of such incidents since comparable data were first collected in 1986.

Given their legal interest in all things related to DUI, the criminal defence lawyers of TorontoDUI decided it was time to see if anything has changed since 2019. For example, does Ontario still have the lowest rate of reported DUI incidents? Has that 2019 national spike in police-reported impaired driving incidents continued to climb, or has it moderated? What is the clearance rate — how many DUI cases go to trial, and what percentage of DUI cases are dismissed? In looking at the worst DUI cases, has the number of impaired driving causing death incidents stayed low or climbed back up?

Statistics Canada has not released another comprehensive impaired-driving report to replace its 2019 analysis, but it has published a December 2024 impaired-driving summary and continues to update its online tables. As TorontoDUI criminal defence lawyer Jeff Mass noted in the live article, "Fortunately, Stats Can has a couple of online statistical databases that may help us answer these questions and provide other perspectives on DUI arrests and case outcomes. Let's see what this official government DUI data tells us."

The StatCan sources below count incidents, charges or court decisions — not arrests — and cannot predict an individual case.

Does Ontario Still Have the Lowest Ratio of Reported DUI Incidents?

To answer this question, we turned to StatCan's " Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, Canada, provinces, territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Canadian Forces Military Police ." That was a mouthful to say, but this statistical resource is chock-a-block full of police-reported criminal incidents and their clearance rate by charges.

And when it comes to reported DUIs, Ontario still had the lowest rate among the provinces. In 2023, the rate of Ontario police-reported impaired-driving incidents was 102.62 per 100,000 population. Quebec came in at a close second with a rate of 152.24, while the highest among provinces was Prince Edward Island with a rate of 515. That said, Northwest Territories was far higher, with a rate of 3,219.78.

StatCan cautions that police may handle some incidents under provincial law. Conduct outside the federal Criminal Code definition is omitted from these national figures.

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Did the 2019 National Spike in Reported DUIs Keep Climbing?

Following up on the previous answer, excepting Northwest Territories, all provinces and territories experienced declines — some significant — in their police-reported DUI incident rates between 2019 and 2023. So, of course, the 2019 national 228 per 100,000 rate also declined, falling to 178.57 in 2023. At this juncture, we should note that the 2019 spike was likely due largely to the enactment of the 2018 Bill C-46 Criminal Code revisions that changed the impaired-driving offence structure and expanded police screening powers.

StatCan's December 2024 summary described 2023 as the fourth consecutive annual decline and the lowest national impaired-driving rate on record. The agency's 2024 police-reported crime table later recorded 54,405 alcohol-impaired driving incidents (132 per 100,000), 6,175 drug-impaired driving incidents and 4,823 combined alcohol-and-drug impaired driving incidents. Those categories should be compared separately rather than treated as a single alcohol-impaired series.

What of the Clearance by DUI Charges?

Canadian police investigated 85,804 DUI incidents in 2019 (a 15,000 jump from 2018), of which 57,507, or 56%, resulted in criminal DUI charges. The respective figures were 71,602, 39,005, and 54% in 2023. So, no, the clearance by DUI charges percentages have not shifted much either way.

Given TorontoDUI's role in the legal outcomes of DUI charges, we're far more interested in what happened in court to those arrested for DUI. For that information, we turn to StatsCan's " Adult criminal courts, number of cases, and charges by type of decision ." Note that this data does not exactly correspond with the agency's "incident-based" data tool because it uses different time-period reporting, and court decision timeframes may not correspond with arrest ones. Nevertheless, let's look at the numbers.

In the 2022/2023 reporting period, Canadian courts recorded 41,873 decisions for impaired-driving charges, a two-decade low far below the two-decade high of 115,046 recorded decisions in 2009/2010. Of those decisions, 39% resulted in a conviction, also a two-decade low. Of special interest to us, 24,861 of the charges were stayed, withdrawn, dismissed, discharged, or referred to alternative or extrajudicial measures and restorative justice programs. Only 538 of the decisions concluded with an acquittal.

Ontario courts recorded 27,519 decisions for impaired-driving charges during the 2022/2023 reporting period. Of those, 36% resulted in a guilty finding, while about 62% (17,177) resulted in withdrawals, dismissals, and other outcomes. Only 289 decisions concluded with an acquittal.

Robbie Tsang adds, "And we'd bet that a significant proportion of the nearly 10,000 Ontario defendants who were convicted of DUI did not have a lawyer."

Those comments express the lawyers' views. The aggregate table does not report counsel status or establish what caused an outcome.

Court Outcomes in DUI Cases (2022/2023)

DUI Clearance Rates (2019 vs. 2023)

What of Impaired Driving Causing Death?

We are pleased to report that police-reported impaired driving causing death remains rare relative to overall impaired-driving incidents. The live article described 48 as the total investigations in 2023, but StatCan identifies 48 deaths involving alcohol alone, plus 9 involving alcohol and drugs, 5 drugs and 5 an unspecified substance. It separately says 70 Canadians were charged. Deaths, incidents and persons charged are different measures and cannot be compared as the same count.

Don't Become a DUI Statistic or Consult with TorontoDUI

Jeff and Robbie advise their readers to avoid becoming one of the above statistics by refraining from driving after consuming alcohol or drugs. Should you be charged, they strongly encourage you to obtain legal advice about the evidence, available defences, and possible outcomes. With a 15-plus-year record of defending thousands of Toronto-area clients charged with impaired driving, contact TorontoDUI for a free consultation.