Most of our blog is about IRPs, the Immediate Roadside Prohibition scheme and what’s happening behind the scenes with the BC DUI laws. We really appreciate the devotion of our IRP blog followers. We thought that today we would give a few quick updates on some matters that we recently discussed on our blog.
Responsible Driver’s Program / Remedial Programs
If you receive a letter from the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles saying you have 21 days to explain why you shouldn’t be required to go through the Responsible Driver Program and face at least a year with an Interlock in your car, you can thank us. After all, only a few months back this was a 100% inevitable consequence of a 90-day IRP or ADP driving prohibition. We challenged the Government’s application of the law, created a procedure in which to make submissions and forced it on the Government.
For some months after, there was still no legitimate review. We then challenged the second version of the process. And now, we can report, there is something that could be characterized as a legal process to dispute the referral to the remedial programs.
Since we wrote about it a month ago, we have managed to ensure that many more of our clients do not have to participate in the remedial programs. As we brought forward the challenges to force more fairness in the system, we were reluctant to take these cases. Still, many people wanted us to do the work and push ahead to challenge the application of the law. Now things have opened up and we can report that at this time it is absolutely worthwhile to make submissions to explain why you should not be forced to complete the Remedial Programs.
If you have a decent driving record and only the one alcohol offence, we are willing to dispute the referral to the remedial programs. Just give us a call and we’ll explain it all to you.
Forcing the Government to Follow the Law
The worst type of Government is one that refuses to follow the law and applies the rules in an arbitrary manner. The problem is that there are few mechanisms to stop our Government from doing just this.
About a month ago we wrote about how the BC Government is refusing to follow the law. Our blog post and the current childish behaviour of the Government got a lot of people angry, and made us angry enough that we decided to take a case to BC Supreme Court to force the Government to follow the law.
We filed a petition in court seeking a mandamus order to force the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles to do its job and render decisions in our Richardson/Wilson cases. The matter was set for hearing this week. And what do you know?
The OSMV went and rendered a decision late last week in the test case, thereby avoiding a Court order against them. That was their sneaky response to our petition. Our sneaky response is to file 20 more petitions in the next 10 days. And to seek costs in the hearings bearing in mind that the Government is, in our view, operating in bad faith.
We think the Government should follow the law. It’s reprehensible that they don’t and it’s despicable that we need to force them to do so. Ain’t gonna stop us, however.
Shocking and revealing breathalyzer malfunctions
We managed to video a shocking breathalyzer malfunction. You can read about it in this IRP blog post. We’re glad that we managed to get video because this is one of those scenarios that the police claim could never happen.
We know that the video is causing a fuss and that the police are busy in the back rooms trying to re-assure themselves and the people in the Government who are responsible for the IRP scheme. As far as we’re concerned, nobody should ever be punished on the basis of a roadside ASD breathalyzer. This may be the clearest evidence to support our contention that the IRP scheme is not just bad law, but that the punishment is based on bad evidence.
If you haven’t already done so, go to the post and watch the video.
We’re winning lots of IRP appeals. What does this mean and what about fairness?
If you need an IRP lawyer, call us because we are the best. The stats prove it.
We have succeed in many more IRP hearings than any other law office in BC. We had an amazing month in March 2014. We succeeded in over 90% of IRP appeal decisions before the OSMV tribunal, which is a record that we never expected.
Moreover, we’re conducting more hearings than ever. What does this mean with respect to: a) fairness; and b) the continued existence of the IRP scheme?
Our success rate in IRP review hearings is far above the average and the mean. We’re good at what we do, but we think there’s more to it than that. As we’ve recently explained, in our very-well informed view, the IRP scheme is untenable. The fact-finding tools are non existent to allow the tribunal to make a rational decision in many cases, and a huge number of innocent drivers are issued IRPs.
The IRP scheme is crumbling. The Wilson and Richardson decisions have gutted the current form of the legislation and the only way it can be temporarily resurrected is by a change to the law in our Legislative Assembly.
But such a change will not deal with the two other massive failings of the IRP scheme: roadside breathalyzer fickleness/malfunctions; and an appeal/review process stripped of fact-finding tools.
Thanks for reading our IRP blog
We appreciate that you come back to read our blog for updates on what we’re doing in our challenges to the IRP scheme. We try to anticipate and report on changes that are coming and how they affect drivers in BC. One rewarding aspect of writing the blog is that we get very nice feedback from people all around British Columbia who have had unpleasant first-hand experience with this particular type of DUI. Another rewarding aspect is that we have so many IRP blog followers.
Thanks again.