BC Changes Road Side Laws
Thursday, May 3, 2012 @ 2:24 PM
Victoria- The Province is introducing changes to the review process for
immediate roadside prohibitions (IRPs), to safeguard the life-saving
benefits of its impaired driving law while addressing a recent court
ruling.
The proposed Motor Vehicle Act amendments will enhance fairness and
strengthen public confidence in the process for drivers whose roadside
breath samples yield either "warn" or "fail" readings on an approved
screening device (ASD). The amendments are critical to sustain the public
safety benefits and justice reform facilitated by providing police with
tough, immediate roadside prohibitions, as an alternative to pursuing the
full criminal process for those who provide a failing breath sample.
The proposed changes are designed to address the court’s concerns about
providing failing drivers with a way to meaningfully challenge the
roadside breath-test results:
* Making it mandatory for police to advise drivers of their right to
challenge the first test result by completing a second test. Currently,
officers are not legally required to inform drivers of this right.
* Requiring police to advise drivers that the lower of the two readings
will prevail. Under the existing law, when a driver opts to take a second
test, its result prevails – higher or lower.
Other amendments are designed to improve administrative fairness and
provide drivers with the opportunity for a more rigorous review through
the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles:
* Expanding the grounds for administrative review to include the
reliability of the ASD results, whether police advised the driver of his
or her right to a second test, whether police conducted that second test
on a second ASD, and whether the IRP was issued on the basis of the
lowest reading. These grounds relate to the expanded requirements of
police officers at the roadside under the amendments.
* Requiring sworn reports from police to the superintendent. This new
requirement will support the reliability of evidence officers submit to
support IRPs.
* Requiring police to submit documentation about the calibration of the
ASD device or devices used. This new requirement will support the
reliability of the ASD readings under review.
The amendments are designed to fully address the B.C. Supreme Court
ruling of Nov. 30, 2011, concerning the constitutionality of part of the
existing IRP law. The court found the current legislation infringes the
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as the existing administrative review
process does not provide a driver the ability to meaningfully challenge
the "fail" result of a roadside breath test. The court granted
government’s request that the declaration of unconstitutionality be
suspended until June 30, 2012, to allow time to amend the law.
The amendments will see IRPs resume as an alternative to the Criminal
Code process for drivers found in excess of the legal limit of .08 per
cent blood-alcohol content (BAC). This alternative can save police and
the courts considerable time and resources. Police will retain the right
to pursue the Criminal Code process, which has been the default approach
since the B.C. Supreme Court ruling.
B.C. brought Canada’s toughest provincial sanctions for drinking and
driving into force on Sept. 20, 2010. The first full year with these
rules saw a 40 per cent drop in alcohol-related traffic deaths, compared
to the average over the previous five years.
Comments
I dont see anything different here. Seems to me that you are still being tried by a Police Officer on the side of the road, with a machine or machines that may or may not be accurate.
In addition they are still trying to get around going to court, but want to collect all the money possible on the side of the road.
Perhaps the Court will see through this and not allow this Amendment to go through.
Liberals are collectiong monay anyway they can, very desperate.
Know of a driver that got a $160 ticket for not having his licence plate on the front bumper of his classic Corvette.
Comments for this article are closed.