New Brunswick DUI Laws: Roadside Suspensions, Immediate Roadside Suspension and Ignition Interlock

New Brunswick suspends a driver's licence immediately for a Warn-range or Fail-range breath result under the Motor Vehicle Act, and since a 2024 reform, police can also divert a Fail-range or refusal case out of the criminal system entirely into a separate, multi-year Immediate Roadside Suspension.

Information last verified on 2026-08-15. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Roadside (Administrative) Suspensions

New Brunswick's Motor Vehicle Act layers two parallel administrative regimes on top of the federal Criminal Code breath-testing framework, and both take effect immediately at the roadside, independent of any criminal charge.

Warn range: 0.05 to 0.079. Under s.310.01, a Warn-range breath reading, or a poor result on a standard field sobriety test for suspected drug impairment, triggers immediate licence surrender and a tiered suspension: 7 days for a first occurrence within 5 years, 15 days for a second, and 30 days for a third or subsequent. A driver has the right to a second breath test, with the lower of the two results governing. Per the province's official summary, vehicle impoundment on the Warn tiers runs 3 days for a first occurrence and 7 days for a second or subsequent.

Fail range or refusal: two separate tracks. A reading of 0.08 or higher, or a refusal, sends a driver down one of two tracks, and the two use very different suspension lengths:

• Administrative licence suspension (s.310.04). This is the older regime, and it applies when the driver is criminally charged and an officer does not invoke the newer diversion power. The licence is suspended a flat 3 months, and the vehicle is impounded 30 days if the driver has no prior s.310.06 order or Criminal Code conviction within the past 10 years, or 60 days if they do.
• Immediate Roadside Suspension (s.310.06). Added by a 2024 legislative amendment, this lets an officer divert a Fail-range or refusal case out of the criminal system entirely rather than laying a charge. The suspension runs far longer than the older track: 15 months for a first occurrence, 39 months for a second, and 63 months for a third or subsequent, within a rolling 10-year window. Vehicle impoundment is 30 days for a first occurrence and 60 days for a second or subsequent. An additional administrative penalty, set by regulation for each tier, also applies.

The province's official summary page states administrative penalty ranges of $240 to $480 on the Warn tiers and $1,200 to $2,400 on the Fail/refusal tiers, without mapping each dollar figure to a specific tier. Treat these as approximate ranges rather than confirmed per-tier amounts until the underlying regulation itself is checked directly.

Reconciling the "3-month" figure. Government and news summaries commonly describe a first Fail-range suspension as 3 months, which conflicts with the 15-month figure above at first read. Both are correct, describing the same s.310.06 first-tier order from two different ends: a mandatory interlock participant can apply for early reinstatement once the absolute minimum 3 months of the 15-month suspension has run, with the interlock installed as a condition. The 3-month figure is the floor before early, interlock-conditioned reinstatement; the 15/39/63-month figures are the full suspension terms if early reinstatement is not pursued. Do not treat the 3-month figure as the whole suspension.

When did the Immediate Roadside Suspension take effect? The enabling amendment is a 2024 change, with a further 2026 amendment to a related section. News reporting describes the regime as in effect from the start of a year, but the exact in-force date was not confirmed against a primary proclamation or regulation in the sources reviewed for this article. If the timing of your stop matters to which track applies, confirm the precise in-force date with the Registrar or a lawyer rather than assuming a date.

Non-alcohol unfitness: 24 hours. Section 310.0001 gives an officer a separate power to suspend a driver believed unfit to drive for a medical or other reason for 24 hours, independent of the alcohol-specific provisions above.

Zero-Tolerance for Novice Drivers

Stage-one learner's licence holders must have zero measurable alcohol at all, under s.84(4)(d), and face a regulated drug threshold under s.84(4)(e). Stage-two novices under 21 have an added midnight-to-5-a.m. driving restriction under s.84(5)(a).

A breach carries a materially harsher consequence than the general adult Warn tiers. Under s.84(11)-(12.02), a conviction under Criminal Code s.320.14(1)/(4) or s.320.15(1), a breach of the zero-tolerance provisions themselves, or an Immediate Roadside Suspension order while holding a learner's licence, revokes every licence the person holds, not just the learner's licence, for at least 1 year (the later of any existing suspension or 1 year from the new suspension's start). A Minister of Health-approved re-education course is required before any new learner's licence can be issued.

No distinct commercial-driver or general under-21 zero-tolerance provision outside the Stage 1/2 novice rules in s.84 was located in the sections of the Act reviewed. Do not assume New Brunswick has one without confirming directly.

Remedial Program and Ignition Interlock

Impaired Driver Re-education Course. Assigned by the Registrar and approved by the Minister of Health, this course is required before reinstatement after any of the alcohol-suspension pathways above. Per the province's official page, the course fee is $380 for a driver with one suspension in the lookback period, or $690 for a driver with two or more suspensions within 10 years.

Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device Program. Participation splits into two tracks:

• Mandatory. Anyone suspended 12 months or more for a Criminal Code s.320.14(1)/s.320.15(1) conviction, or under any tier of the s.310.06 Immediate Roadside Suspension (all three of which run 12 months or longer), must participate.
• Voluntary. A driver suspended under the third-or-subsequent Warn tier (s.310.01(4)(c)) or the older 3-month s.310.04 suspension can opt in for early reinstatement.

Per the official program page, costs are user-pay through an authorized service provider: a $70 monthly monitoring fee plus tax, with installation billed separately and varying by vehicle. These are private provider charges, not a government fee schedule. For a mandatory participant under a s.310.06 tier, the program runs until that suspension period would otherwise have elapsed; for a mandatory participant convicted criminally, it runs until the Criminal Code prohibition period expires.

Review and Appeal Deadlines

• Warn-range or s.310.04 suspension (s.310.05). Apply to the Registrar within 15 days of being served with the suspension order, pay the prescribed fee (plus an oral-hearing fee if you want a hearing), and surrender the licence. Filing does not pause the suspension.
• Immediate Roadside Suspension (s.310.07). Same 15-day filing deadline, and the same rule that filing does not pause the suspension. The Registrar must decide within 10 days if no hearing is requested, or hold a hearing within 20 days if one is requested, and issue a written decision within 7 days of that decision or hearing, sent by registered or certified mail.
• Fees. Per the province's official page, a written review costs $64 and an oral or virtual hearing costs $100. The Act itself leaves the exact amount to regulation, so treat these as the currently published figures rather than fixed statutory numbers.

Reinstatement Steps and Fees

Reinstatement requires the suspension period to expire, the re-education course to be completed, any administrative penalty to be paid, and, for a suspension of 12 months or more under the s.310.06 tiers, proof the interlock has been installed. Per the province's official page, the reinstatement fee is $52 for shorter or earlier-tier suspensions, and $230 for a third-or-subsequent or Fail-range suspension. These figures come from the government's public summary page rather than the underlying regulation text directly, so confirm the current amount with the Registrar before paying.

Post-Conviction Licence Actions

A Criminal Code s.320.14(1) or s.320.15(1) conviction triggers its own Registrar-imposed licence action, layered on top of whatever roadside suspension already applied, and feeding into the mandatory interlock requirement above. The exact duration of this post-conviction suspension or revocation was not confirmed in the sections of the Act reviewed for this article. If you have been convicted, confirm the specific term that applies to your record with the Registrar or a lawyer rather than assuming a figure.

The Criminal Track

New Brunswick's administrative scheme is expressly in addition to, not in substitution for, any criminal proceeding or penalty. The Immediate Roadside Suspension lets police divert a Fail-range or refusal case out of the criminal system as a matter of discretion, which can mean a driver avoids a criminal record for that stop, but it does not create a legal bar to also laying a criminal charge in a given case. For the mandatory minimum fines, jail terms, and federal driving prohibition ranges that come with an actual Criminal Code conviction under s.320.14 (impaired operation, an over-80 reading, or a drug-concentration offence) or the s.320.15 refusal offence, see impaired driving in Canada and DUI penalties in Canada.

Related New Brunswick Steps

An impaired-driving stop can generate a court record if the case proceeds criminally, and later a criminal record; see criminal record checks in Canada and, for cross-border travel, travelling with a criminal record. An administrative roadside suspension is a different process from fighting a traffic ticket in Canada, and the Stage 1/2 novice zero-tolerance rules sit within New Brunswick's broader graduated licensing system. New Brunswick's Warn-range lookback is 5 years; compare that to Nova Scotia's impaired driving rules, where the equivalent lookback is 10 years.

Disclaimer

This article is informational only and is not legal advice. Several figures in this article come from New Brunswick's official government summary pages rather than the underlying regulation or proclamation text: the exact per-tier administrative penalty dollar amounts (reported as ranges of $240 to $480 on the Warn tiers and $1,200 to $2,400 on the Fail/refusal tiers, without a stated mapping to each specific tier), the reinstatement fees, and the precise in-force date of the Immediate Roadside Suspension regime. The post-conviction licence action following a Criminal Code conviction was not independently confirmed in this article. Review deadlines described above are strict; filing after 15 days can forfeit the review. Confirm current fees, in-force dates, and deadlines directly with Service New Brunswick, the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, or a licensed lawyer before relying on this page, and consult a lawyer promptly after any roadside suspension or impaired-driving charge.