British Columbians facing Immediate Roadside Prohibitions (IRPs) and Administrative Driving Prohibitions (ADPs) woke up today to find their legal rights on hold. RoadSafetyBC sent an email announcing that its worksite is “temporarily closed due to a strike,” with no indication of when hearings will resume. For the thousands of drivers who depend on this agency to process hearings, this is a direct denial of their legal rights.
Under the Motor Vehicle Act, drivers are entitled to apply for a hearing to challenge an IRP or ADP. They are entitled to a timely hearing before an adjudicator. The law imposes strict deadlines on the public. If you miss your seven-day deadline to apply, you lose your right to a hearing. If you miss your submission deadline, the Superintendent can reject your evidence. Yet the government now claims it can simply close the doors and walk away, leaving citizens without the process the law demands.
The double standard is staggering. Drivers are punished immediately. Licences are seized, vehicles are impounded, and prohibitions take effect the moment the notice is served. Meanwhile, the government faces no consequence when it fails to provide the hearing it requires of itself. People are forced off the road, losing work, income, and family stability, all while a government agency essentially shrugs and says it will “respond once job action has concluded.”
This strike exposes a fundamental flaw in the IRP and ADP system. These are supposed to be “administrative” penalties justified by the claim that they are quick and efficient. Courts have accepted this rationale when upholding key parts of the scheme. But when government staff walk off the job, the system grinds to a halt. The punishment remains. The “quick and efficient” hearing vanishes.
If the government insists on immediate roadside punishment, it must meet its own obligation to provide an immediate and fair hearing.
We have a plan to deal with this. We are already taking steps to protect our clients during this shutdown. We are filing applications the moment we receive them, documenting every delay, and pressing the government for immediate confirmation that hearing rights will be preserved. We are also preparing legal arguments to challenge any attempt to use this strike as an excuse to deny hearings or extend prohibitions. Our concern is simple and urgent: no one should lose the right to challenge a prohibition or face consequences because RoadSafetyBC decided to close its doors.