Because of our challenge regarding the interlock requirement of 90-day Immediate Roadside Prohibitions, many drivers who receive IRPs are no longer being required to have an interlock installed in their vehicle. As of a date that has not been publicly acknowledged, the OSMV stopped automatically forcing everyone through the IIP and RDP. Now, when you get an 90-day IRP, you can’t know whether or not you will be compelled to go through these programs. Clearly this is unfair to everyone who received an IRP prior to the date they stopped automatically forcing everyone through these programs. So what do you do if your driving record already records “Interlock Required?” What are the steps to get rid of the interlock?
Our method: the steps to get rid of the interlock
The Government should do the right thing and lift the interlock requirement for everyone until they have a process to review everyone’s file to determine if a referral to the IIP is lawful. We have so little confidence in the Government at this point because in our view they rarely do the right thing. They could make a public statement saying what they are doing bearing in mind the thousands of people stuck in limbo. They’re not doing this because it would be catastrophic for the BCLiberals in the weeks before the provincial election. We don’t expect them to do the right thing or even explain what they are doing. We don’t expect that they will tell anyone the necessary steps to get rid of the interlock.
This makes us very angry. As far as we’re concerned the Government should be open, honest and fair. This has not been our experience with this Government. In any event, to empower the readers of our blog we’re going to tell you the steps we’ve taken to get rid of the interlock for our clients. The Government won’t tell you what you need to do to get rid of the interlock. We will.
1. Review your driving record
You can get a copy of your driving record by phoning ICBC. The number is 1-800-950-1498. They will email it to you for free. Many of our clients have ICBC send us a copy at the same time to speed things up.
If you have a good driving record and no alcohol or drug related notations on your record, then you should meet the test to have the interlock requirement revoked. If all you have is an IRP on your record, then a referral to the IIP is unwarranted.
2. Put together submissions to the OSMV to make your case
This can be tricky, even for lawyers, because there are no clear guidelines on what considerations the OSMV might use in the review of your file. In the decisions we’ve received so far (100% successful) the adjudicator has referred to the personal circumstances of our clients as we explained in our submissions. For us we are accustomed to making these sorts of submissions to ICBC and the OSMV, so we know the pitfalls of certain arguments and where we should focus our attention. If you plan to do this yourself, make sure you get one or two people to proof read your submissions. Don’t call us to proof read your submissions, however. We have a standard of quality, i.e. we won’t help you do a half-ass job.
You can send your submissions to:
Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles
PO Box 9254, Stn Prov Govt
Victoria B.C. V8W 9J2
Fax: 250 387-4891
3. Start litigation
From what we can determine the OSMV doesn’t respond to anyone who makes submission seeking to lift the interlock requirement. So what we did in our test cases, and what we have been doing since last Friday, is to start an action in BC Supreme Court for every client who gives us instructions to do so. It is advisable to hire a lawyer for this part. What you need to do is draft a Petition that covers the legal basis to seek a mandamus order from the court, essentially ordering the OSMV to do their job on your file, i.e. review your submissions (see point 2) in light of your driving record and the law.
We have a template now so we can do this as cheaply as possible for our clients. But we worked hard on this over many months, so we’re not giving this out. It’s like the Colonel’s secret recipe. In any event, the documents need to be filed in court and then served on the Justice Ministry/Attorney General’s office in Victoria.
4. Force the matter into court
If you simply start litigation you may end up waiting for years as the matter drags on through the courts. You need to force the matter to be addressed in court as soon as possible. The particular concern is that our clients are waiting in limbo, often without a driver’s license, because the OSMV is dragging their heels and not reviewing their submissions. So what we have done is applied for interim relief; essentially asking the court to order the OSMV to lift the IIP and RDP requirement until such time as the application for a mandamus order can be argued and decided.
So at this point what we have done is filed the documents to put the matter down for a hearing seeking interim relief (just like an injunction) that would allow us to speak to the case in court and get a remedy, albeit perhaps temporary, for our clients.
Although this is a temporary remedy, in our view the Motor Vehicle Act is clear. For the cases where we started down this path the remedy is permanent because our clients would succeed on the hearing for a mandamus order and they would succeed on review of their file by the OSMV.
Post-script
None of this would be necessary if the Government would do the right thing, take responsibility for their mistake and start to put things right. If you go back and follow the history of the twists and turns of the IRP scheme, you’ll see that they’ve not done the right thing time and again, so in our view the only appropriate course of action is to force them.
The Government has given no guidance on the steps to get rid of the interlock if you received a 90-day IRP. They should. In any event, so far the steps we have followed, listed here, have been 100% successful.
Kyla and Paul have been dealing with this from the start. If you want us to help you get rid of the interlock, call Kyla at 604-685-8889 if you’re in Vancouver, on the North Shore, in Burnaby or in the Tri-Cities. If you’re in Richmond, Delta, Surrey or Langley call our Richmond office at 604-370-3050. If you’re anywhere else in BC feel free to call either location.