Driving prohibition time limits
If you receive a driving prohibition of any sort from the Police or the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, or a Notice of Intent to Prohibit arrives in your mailbox, you need to move fast. There are driving prohibition time limits with which you must familiarize yourself before you do anything else.
Notice of Intent to Prohibit
ICBC and the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles sends a document called a Notice of Intent to Prohibit to drivers whom they feel have an unsatisfactory driving record. Usually this is triggered by one or two traffic tickets in quick succession appearing on a driver’s abstract, or as few as one traffic violation for drivers in the graduated license program. The Notice of Intent notifies the driver that they may make submissions within 21 days to contest the proposed prohibition.
The important thing to note is that the strict 21-day time period is from the date of the letter, rather than the date you received it. Often we see that the letter wasn’t mailed until a few days after it was dated, so beware that by the time it hits your mailbox, you may have only a couple of weeks to make your argument.
Part of our program to help our clients deal with impending prohibitions for points on their driver’s abstract is to take steps toward rehabilitation. This can take time. As well, putting together proper submissions that address the concerns of the Superintendent cannot be done overnight. Consequently, we encourage you to call us as soon as possible if you have received a Notice of Intent to Prohibit.
Immediate Roadside Prohibitions & Administrative Driving Prohibition time limits
If you are issued a 90-day driving prohibition by a police officer for an alleged DUI in BC, you probably have before you a paper with the acronym IRP or ADP in the upper corner.
IRPs and ADPs are two distinct types of driving prohibitions that are best handled by a skilled driving lawyer. The most important timeline date in both instances is the 7-day period in which to file for a review.
The 7-day period to attend ICBC Driver Services to file for review makes sense with ADP driving prohibitions. Administrative Driving Prohibitions do not begin until 21 days after the Date of Service, found on the bottom of the document. Because of this 21-day grace period, only 7 days are allotted in which to file for review. After that the Superintendent’s own tribunal has to give its response before the 21 days are up.
As far as IRPs are concerned, the 7-day period seems only to exist to weed out people who are slow, busy or misinformed by the police. There is no downside for the Superintendent if the applicant waits — they’re the one with the prohibition. As far as we’re concerned, the 7-days for IRPs is really just there to disadvantage people.
No one said that the law is fair. The important thing to know if you have an IRP or ADP is that you should contact a lawyer who is experienced with this type of legal work as soon as possible within the 7 days to make sure you don’t lose your right to challenge your prohibition.
As lawyers with extensive experience defending driving prohibitions, we can put together the submissions necessary within the driving prohibition time limits. Call us today.