Chances are if you’re reading our blog today then you’ve been following the news in the last few weeks. Everything has been pretty well explained in previous posts, but there is one important tidbit from the IRP news stories that you may have missed. The OSMV appears to have capitulated.
In an article in the Canadian Press the deputy Superintendent of Motor Vehicles is quoted:
Melvin said her office considers the driver’s five-year driving record before making a decision to refer the person to a remedial program. She said her office is also open to hearing submissions from the motorists.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com
This has not been the policy to date. Lots of people wrote to the OSMV asking them to review the directive and they refused to respond. Their own internal policy documents, which we obtained, state clearly that the remedial requirements are automatic and not subject to review.
So what does this mean? Before ordering people to go through the Responsible Driver’s Program and have an interlock installed, the OSMV will actually review the person’s driving record. Presumably they will now send these letters only to people with previous alcohol notations on their driving record. And they will invite each person to respond and make submissions regarding why they should be exempt from the remedial programs.
This is the typical way that things work in BC when your driving record is under scrutiny.
However, up until now the Government just ignored their own law and made everyone go through the program. Some higher ups believed that [if you are caught driving drunk,] “the odds are absolutely astronomical that it would be your very first time driving impaired.” And on that basis they made their own rules.
So we see that this is one of the dangers of giving too much power to any particular government organization. In this case they adopted a policy that runs contrary to the law because it suited their own opinion and ideological views. For over two years they ran with their own set of rules and the consequence in this case is that thousands of people who should have been exempt from the so-called remedial requirements have suffered.
Today what you need to know is that we can now write to ask that the OSMV remove the remedial requirements from your license. We expect that they will take the requests seriously based on Ms. Melvin’s statement to the Canadian Press.
If they don’t, we will take some test cases to court. As we said concerning the first group of people, we have a plan.