If you just received an Administrative Driving Prohibition (ADP), a 30-day Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP) or a 90-day IRP, a nasty letter is coming your way.
The IRP or ADP Notice of Prohibition does not explain the misery that is about to befall you. Only after the 7-day appeal period has expired will you receive the unexpected and unpleasant missive from the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles telling you that you must now complete the Responsible Drivers Program (RDP) and drive with an Interlock for at least a year (with GPS monitoring your every move).
It is dirty that you do not get notice of this when the police serve you the Notice of Prohibition. It is still dirtier that you do not get notice until the 7-day period in which you could file for a review has expired. Worst of all in our view is that it is not written into legislation despite the fact that everyone is forced to do it as punishment for these prohibitions.
The Government did not put this in the legislation that brought in the ADP or IRP schemes. It was a policy decision, relying on the discretion of the Superintendent, that made this compulsory. It can be chalked up the the discretion of the Superintendent. But it is a policy made by the Government.
I hear you ask: How is it the discretion of the Superintendent if it is applied to everyone? The simple answer is that it is in no way an exercise of discretion. There are no review provisions. You cannot apply for a review on the basis of hardship, or that it is inappropriate bearing in mind your spotless record. These are requirements, not written into any legislation and for which you receive no notice until it is too late to do anything about them.
This is another example of the Government doing something dirty in a manner that allows it to avoid or obscure scrutiny of the Court. To avoid the allegation that this is a punishment scheme dolled up as administrative scheme, they can claim that much of the punishment part is discretionary.
Although ADPs have been with us for well over a decade, this policy decision came into effect the same time as IRPs came into effect. Because so few ADPs were issued between September 20, 2010 and November 30, 2011, few lawyers are even aware of the piece of mail coming to their clients. Now that IRPs for Fail are not being issued, ADPs are being issued by the bucketful.
It is noteworthy that ADPs changed fundamentally with the IRP legislation and when the IRP scheme was introduced. We feel that there are many new issues that need to be addressed in Court, so we are moving in that direction.
If you receive an ADP or IRP, do not wait until the 7-day dispute period has expired before informing yourself about the implications.
We defend all of these driving prohibitions. Feel free to give us a call.