Driving drunk twice in one day nets North Van man 18-month driving ban

A 30-year-old North Vancouver man who crashed both of his parents’ cars while driving drunk twice on the same day has been fined $2,000 and banned from driving for 18 months.

Stephen Edward Jones was sentenced Feb. 10 in North Vancouver provincial court after pleading guilty to charges of impaired driving and driving while prohibited on May 23, 2019.

Judge Patricia Janzen described how on that day, Jones, then 28, drove his father’s vehicle into a parked car in North Vancouver. He subsequently failed a roadside breathalyzer test and was banned from driving for 90 days while his father’s car was impounded for 30 days.

Later the same day, however, Jones took his mother’s car and also drove that vehicle into another parked car. That happened within hours of receiving the first driving prohibition, the judge noted. In that case, a nearby dump truck driver who observed the accident stopped and took Jones’s car keys away and called police. The same officer who had handed Jones his first driving prohibition that day showed up to the accident scene.

Subsequent breathalyzer readings showed Jones had three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system. “You were heavily impaired,” said the judge.

In handing down the sentence, the judge noted Jones was suffering “significant mental health issues” at the time of the offences and that the actions were “uncharacteristic” of him.

She added Jones has since attended substance abuse rehabilitation programs.