Driving prohibition appeal arguments that work

Only a handful of lawyers in British Columbia have argued appeals of Immediate Roadside Prohibitions and Administrative Driving Prohibitions before the Superintendent of Motor Vehicle’s review board, and fewer still do this on a day-to-day basis. Our lawyers often have a dozen of these cases on the go at any given time so we know the driving prohibition appeal arguments that work as well as the ones which don’t.

Some people think a review before the Superintendent’s delegate is a do-it-yourself type project. Material put out by the government suggests that a driving prohibition review hearing is some sort of cozy hand-holding event. They claim that it’s not an adversarial process.

It clearly is an adversarial process. The government created the law to give the police the power to hand out IRP and ADP driving prohibitions. The government wants the prohibitions to stick.

Clearly the police and the government are in an adversarial position to the driver facing the prohibition. The only thing standing in the way of the police and the government is the government review board.

It’s important to note that the Superintendent’s delegate isn’t there to protect your rights. In fact, they will not even acknowledge your Charter Rights except in cases where the police claimed that the person refused to blow. And even then, you can only succeed if the violation of your Rights would provide an excuse.

Because we conduct so many IRP and ADP reviews, we know the appeal arguments that work. And we’re always discovering new arguments that nobody has even tried.

Most distressing for us is that some people try to conduct their own IRP or ADP review hearing. The government may prefer that people go in without a lawyer skilled in this area of the law. But of course, the government doesn’t want you to succeed on your prohibition appeal.

If you’re thinking of trying to dispute an IRP or ADP on your own, we suggest that you think twice about that decision. To help you we’ve got this handy list of arguments that will NEVER succeed in an IRP or ADP appeal. If you were thinking of dealing with your case without us, and you’re planning on using one of the following arguments, you better change your plan.

These are the most common arguments that self-represented people make and that NEVER succeed in a driving prohibition appeal:

1.  I will never do it again. I’ve learnt my lesson – a prohibition isn’t necessary.
2.  I need my driver’s license for work.
3.  I made just the one simple mistake. I was under a lot of unusual stress.
4.  Please don’t prohibit me because I need to drive myself (or someone else) to the hospital for chemo-therapy treatment.
5.  I’m asking that you give me a prohibition to allow me to drive just during the hours of…
6.  Where I live there is no bus or public transportation. It’s therefore unfair in my case to prohibit me.
7.  I have a good driving record.
8.  Can you please delay the start of the prohibition? I just need a couple of weeks (months, years) to get things in order and then I can handle the prohibition.
9.  My health and safety will be threatened if I can’t drive.
10.  Someone spiked my drink and I didn’t know how much (if any) alcohol I had consumed.

If you thought that maybe you could make the argument on your own without a lawyer, is very likely that you won’t succeed.

Instead, give us a call and we’ll be glad to help you out. After all, we are the BC Driving Lawyers.