N.B. news: New impaired driving rules start Jan. 1 [Video]

FREDERICTON –

Motorists caught in New Brunswick for driving while impaired will face additional immediate consequences under new penalties that take effect Jan. 1.

Changes to the province’s Motor Vehicle Act give police discretion to issue a roadside suspension or lay criminal charges. Previously, police could only lay criminal charges, sending drivers through a lengthy process in the province’s clogged court system.

“It streamlines the process, so it will help reduce the caseload inside the court system,” said Cpl. Matthew Leblanc-Smith, a spokesman for New Brunswick RCMP.

Leblanc-Smith said the new rules impose immediate sanctions on some drivers — without giving them a criminal record. As well, he said, the changes allow the more serious offenders to be sent into the criminal justice system.

“I don’t know if (the changes are) going to work better as a deterrent, but it will give police more options and better tools,” he said.

Under the …