Can I have my reckless driving record expunged?

One of the worst convictions that you can have on your driving record is a conviction for reckless driving.

The term reckless driving is not actually a term that we use in British Columbia. But it could refer to two different driving offences, both of which are serious, albeit for different reasons. The first is a ticket for driving without due care and attention or driving without reasonable consideration under the Motor Vehicle Act. Those tickets are a form of reckless driving that are issued to people whose driving conduct falls short of criminal driving behaviour, but still amounts to driving that falls short of safe and responsible on the roadway.

A driving without due care ticket carries six penalty points and is considered to be high-risk driving behaviour by the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, meaning it could trigger additional future consequences like driving prohibitions. It may also make you more likely to receive driving prohibition letters on the basis of your driving record.

For this reason, many people with these tickets on their driving records are interested in removing them from their records.

Here’s the bad news: once a ticket is on your driving record it is very difficult to remove it. In order to keep a ticket from going on your record, you must successfully dispute the ticket in traffic court. In order to successfully dispute the ticket, you must file the dispute within 30 days from when you received the ticket, and then have a hearing in traffic court to either resolve the matter or succeed at trial.

If you do not dispute the ticket, and 30 days pass, the ticket goes on your driving record and there is effectively no way to expunge it from your driving record. The same goes for if you dispute the ticket and do not attend court, or if you pay the ticket.

Consider it this way: your driving record in British Columbia is forever. Once a ticket is on your record as a result of a guilty plea, there are very limited avenues to remove it from your record.

If a ticket is unpaid, then you may be able to apply to a court to have the ticket registered and disputed late or have your court hearing reinstated.

These applications are difficult and it is recommended that you hire a lawyer to assist you with making the application. If you have paid the ticket, there is not much you can do other than appeal your guilty plea by applying to the court to withdraw it (link to post).

But beyond that, expunging something from your driving record is simply not an option. There are no pardons for your driving record.

As far as a criminal conviction for something related to reckless driving, there are two criminal offences that would cover this type of conduct. The first is a criminal negligence conviction and the second is a dangerous driving conviction.

In Canada, you can apply for what is known as a record suspension. You might understand this to be a pardon. These are not pardons, but they are the Canadian equivalent of one. Pardons were repealed by Stephen Harper’s government.

The record suspension allows the record of your criminal conviction to be sealed off and put away from your other records so that it cannot be accessed except in extremely limited circumstances.

The irony of this is that even if you were successful in obtaining a record suspension, your driving record is not affected by this. This means that if you obtain a suspension for any driving-related convictions, it will still be reflected on your BC driving record.

To us, this seems wrong. Arguably, ICBC’s decision to do so is unlawful. But a fight would have to be taken up through court and policymakers in order to change the way that record suspensions affect what is being presented on your driving record.

Obtaining a record suspension is also a lengthy process. It cannot be done quickly. You must wait a minimum of ten years from when you completed all of your sentences to apply for one. For example, if the conviction you received for some sort of reckless driving behaviour happens in 2020, and you were sentenced to a three-year driving prohibition, you would have to wait until that full three-year prohibition is completed and then another ten years before you applied for a record suspension.

You also have to ensure that any fines or victim fine surcharges have been paid before you can apply for the record suspension.

If you are concerned about a criminal record for an incident of reckless driving, then you should make sure to pay all of your court fines as soon as possible and before the deadline, stay out of trouble for the rest of your sentence, and make a note in your calendar for 10 years from the day that you finish all of the aspects of your sentence so that you know when you may apply.

Ultimately, what is clear from the information we provided here, is that getting something related to your driving behaviour put behind you is difficult. If you have any questions about this it is best to consult a lawyer who can advise you on the best path to take.