One of the most frequent questions is “How many points before I get a driving prohibition in British Columbia? A lot of people expect the answer to be simple.
Most people are also under the impression that the answer is if you have a Class 7 license, 4 points. And if you have a Class 5 license, it’s 9 to 11 points.
That, as a general rule of thumb, is correct, but it is not a complete answer. ICBC’s decisions to issue driving prohibitions for points are largely based on your driving record and discretion. ICBC has a policy manual that does set out a threshold number of points that could trigger a driving prohibition. But these driving prohibitions are discretionary, and it is up to ICBC whether to issue the prohibition or not.
The circumstances behind why you got the points are really what ICBC is going to look at.
By this, we mean that while you may have only accumulated six points as a Class 5 driver, those six points may come from two high-risk offences. If you receive two high-risk offences, then even though you only have six points, ICBC typically will make the decision to suspend your license. High-risk offences are more likely to get you into trouble.
High-risk driving offences include driving without due care and attention, excessive speeding, flight from police, and distracted driving.
There are also many circumstances in which a lower accumulated number of points than the threshold can trigger a driving prohibition.
ICBC also looks for patterns of conduct. If you have three tickets for the same type of offence, even if that offence is something that only carries two points, such as making a lane change over a solid line, it is still possible that ICBC will give you a driving prohibition. The
prohibition will not be because of the accumulation of points, but because of a pattern of disregard for the rules of the road. ICBC views repeated behaviour as something that requires intervention. For this reason, you cannot simply calculate the number of points you have and then decide that you are okay to drive unsafely.
For Class 7 drivers, the thresholds are a lot lower. Typically, four points will trigger a driving prohibition regardless of the combination of offences that led to those points. But there are other circumstances in which a driving prohibition can be ordered. For example, a single high-risk offence will usually result in a prohibition.
And just like with Class 5 drivers, a pattern of disregard for the rules of the road will also trigger a driving prohibition. We have seen driving prohibitions to be issued to inexperienced or Class 7 drivers even for something as simple as repeatedly not wearing a seatbelt.
Effectively, in order to determine whether your license is going to be suspended, you should try to avoid getting two or more tickets as a Class 5 driver, or one or more tickets as a Class 7 driver in a five-year period.
If any of the tickets you receive are a high-risk offence, you can consider yourself under the scrutiny of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, and likely to receive a driving prohibition if you have your N, and likely receive a prohibition if you get another ticket as a Class 5 driver.