If you have received a Notice of Intent to Prohibit from the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, it means RoadSafetyBC has reviewed your driving record and concluded that it raises a concern. You have 21 days from the date on the letter to respond in writing. What happens next depends almost entirely on how well that response addresses the Superintendent’s actual concern.

Most people who receive this letter are surprised. Their driving record may not look that bad to them. They may have only two or three convictions. They may have gone years between tickets. But the Superintendent is not running a simple calculation. They are looking at your record and asking a different question entirely.

How the Superintendent Actually Reviews Your Record

Nearly every conviction recorded on your BC driving record triggers a review at the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles office. For full licence holders, that means each ticket conviction, every driving-related finding, every entry on the five-year disclosed record. The Superintendent’s staff are looking for patterns.

ICBC publishes point threshold charts that suggest prohibitions only kick in at certain accumulated totals. Those charts exist, but they do not accurately reflect how the Superintendent’s office operates in practice. The reality is that two convictions in a relatively short period can be enough to trigger a Notice of Intent to Prohibit, regardless of the total point count, if the pattern of those convictions raises concern.

For example, a cell-phone conviction followed by an excessive speeding conviction six months later involves only two tickets. But to the Superintendent, that combination in a short window suggests something worth examining. A careless driving conviction combined with a speeding ticket within a two-year period will almost certainly draw attention. The nature of the offences, their timing, and what they suggest together about a driver’s behaviour matters as much as the raw number of points.

When a prohibition is issued, it is rarely for one month. In practice, the Superintendent typically issues prohibitions of three months or longer when they decide to act. If you have received a Notice of Intent, the intended prohibition length is serious.

Who Typically Receives a Notice of Intent to Prohibit

The Superintendent is not only looking for chronic bad drivers. They are also watching for drivers whose record suggests something has changed or gone wrong. The people who most commonly receive a Notice of Intent to Prohibit include:

• Drivers who recently got their full licence and accumulated tickets quickly after feeling that the restrictions of the Graduated Licensing Program no longer applied to them.
• Drivers going through personal turmoil, a relationship breakdown, a bereavement, or a difficult period at work, whose driving behaviour has deteriorated as a result.
• Drivers dealing with a physical or mental health issue that has affected their concentration or judgment behind the wheel.
• Drivers who have taken on a new job involving a great deal of driving and whose increased time on the road has led to more incidents.
• Drivers with an otherwise clean record who received two serious or moderately serious tickets in a short period.

What these situations have in common is that the driving record tells part of a story, but not the whole one. The written submission is the opportunity to tell the rest of it.

What the Superintendent Is Actually Asking

The Notice of Intent to Prohibit is not an accusation that you are a bad person. It is a signal that your driving record has raised a concern about whether you are currently a safe driver. The Superintendent is asking, in effect: is this person a risk on the road right now, and what evidence do I have that the situation has been or will be addressed?

That question has to be answered specifically. A response that does not engage with the actual pattern of offences on the record, that does not explain the circumstances behind them, and that does not demonstrate genuine steps toward addressing the underlying concern, is not answering the question the Superintendent is asking.

The Superintendent will consider the nature and timing of the convictions, the context behind them, the personal and employment consequences of a prohibition, and most importantly, what concrete steps have already been taken toward correcting poor driving behaviour. Steps that have been taken before the submission is filed carry far more weight than steps that are promised for the future.

Why Written Submissions Often Do Not Succeed

The written submission is the entire opportunity to influence the outcome. The Superintendent does not hold hearings for points prohibitions. There is no oral argument, no cross-examination, no second chance. The submission is it.

Submissions that fail tend to share the same characteristics. They argue against the points total rather than addressing the pattern the Superintendent is concerned about. They are general where they need to be specific. They describe the hardship of losing a licence without demonstrating why the concern that triggered the Notice has been addressed. They promise future action rather than describing action already taken. And they do not engage honestly with what the driving record actually shows.

A submission that reads as though it could have been written about any driver, by someone who has never read the actual file, will not persuade the Superintendent. They are making a decision about a specific person on a specific record. The submission needs to reflect that.

The most effective submissions are built around the individual. They acknowledge the record honestly, explain the circumstances that led to it, demonstrate that those circumstances have been understood and addressed, and present a credible picture of why the road is safer with that person driving than not. That is a very different document from a general argument about why driving prohibitions are inconvenient.

What a Lawyer Does That a Form Letter Cannot

An experienced driving lawyer will read your file carefully before putting anything in writing. They will look at what the convictions are, when they occurred, and what pattern they form. They will ask you about your circumstances: what was happening in your life during that period, what your employment depends on, what has changed, and what steps you have taken or can take before the submission is filed.

That last conversation matters more than most people expect. A lawyer who understands the process will discuss with you what concrete actions, taken before the submission is filed, will carry weight with the Superintendent. The lawyer then builds a submission that is genuinely about you: your specific record, your specific circumstances, your specific steps. It addresses the concern the Superintendent is actually trying to resolve, not a generic version of it. That is the difference between a submission that has a real chance of success and one that reads like it was written without knowing anything about the person it is supposed to represent.

Every driving record is different. Every person’s circumstances are different. The value of legal representation here is not in producing a polished document. It is in producing the right document for the right person.

The 21-Day Deadline: Do Not Wait

The written submission must be received by the Superintendent within 21 days of the date on the Notice of Intent to Prohibit. That is the date on the letter, not the date you received it. If no submission is received in time, the Superintendent will issue a Notice of Prohibition and the prohibition takes effect.

Once a Notice of Prohibition has been issued, the options are considerably more limited. The 21-day window is the meaningful opportunity, and it needs to be used well. Calling a lawyer the day you receive the Notice of Intent, rather than several days later, gives the most time for proper preparation before the submission is filed.

New Drivers: The Stakes Are Higher

For drivers still in the Graduated Licensing Program, the tolerance for any pattern of driving offences is lower and the consequences are more severe. A prohibition means restarting the GLP from the beginning, which affects not just your current driving privileges but your entire timeline to a full licence.

The Superintendent’s concern about new drivers is legitimate and will be reflected in how they weigh the record. A submission in a new driver case needs to address that concern directly and specifically. If you are a new driver who has received a Notice of Intent, call us immediately.

Call BC Driving Lawyers Now

Our lawyers have made written submissions to the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles on behalf of clients across British Columbia. We know how the Superintendent reviews driving records, what the submissions that succeed look like, and what steps a client can take before the submission is filed to give themselves the best possible chance.

If you have received a Notice of Intent to Prohibit or a Notice of Prohibition, call us at 604-608-1200 or email us for a free consultation. Do not wait. The 21-day window runs from the date on the letter, not the date you received it.