Question: This past year my 18 year old son was stopped and ticketed for having an extra passenger in his vehicle. He was also given a 24 hour prohibition for drug use without any investigation to support this.
It was late in the evening and they had been at a party. He was designated driver that evening and had not been drinking or doing drugs.
However, the constable that stopped him pointed her flashlight in his eyes and accused him of being on drugs. She decided this in mere seconds of observation.
He protested and offered to be tested, be it Breathalyzer or blood test, what ever kind of test. He was told there was no roadside test for this.
She proceeded to write this accusation on his ticket and impounded the vehicle. Had we known what would follow I would have taken him to have a blood test done immediately when I picked him up that evening.
Later on, he received a letter in the mail advising that "due to his bad driving record" his license was suspended for four months.
We sent in letters from the witnesses that were there and friends that were at the party as well as our own protest to this unjust accusation.
We waited two months only to receive the same letter again advising him of his four month suspension. It was as if no one even took the time to look at these letters or his statement.
My argument is this is unjust and unfair. My son now has this "drug suspicion" on his driving record and it will be there permanently. If he were guilty, fine, but if not guilty is it fair that he should have to carry such a burden?
My son does not do drugs. I know what you are thinking, "you are his mother of course you believe this". Well it is true. He wants (or I should say wanted) to go into the RCMP once he is of age to apply, he is not likely to take any chances by using drugs.
Now this overly enthusiastic constable has tarnished his record and for what ever her reason he now has to live with this. How can we have this 24 hour prohibition removed from his driving record? How can we prevent other incidents of this nature from occurring to him or to others?
I don't believe the GLP is the answer. From my point of view it has given the police license to harass new drivers rather than to encourage them and they aren't learning anything different.
Safe driving is what we need to teach them. A better plan would be to introduce defensive driving courses as part of the school curriculum and make this mandatory. That way every young person learns from a professional rather than any "joe" behind the wheel of a vehicle.
Background Note
In 1982 the Motor Vehicle Act legislation was amended to allow police to issue 24 hour prohibitions for drug use.
This question was asked in 2009 and at that time there was no option for a review of the prohibition other than trying to convince the issuing officer that you were not impaired by a drug.
Reviews of these prohibitions by the Superintendent began to be allowed in 2018.
The following response was updated in 2024:
24 Hour Prohibition Law
Here is the law with regard to the 24 hour prohibition for drug use:
215(3) A peace officer may, at any time or place on a highway or industrial road if the peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe that a driver's ability to drive a motor vehicle is affected by a drug, other than alcohol,
(a) request the driver to drive the motor vehicle, under the direction of the peace officer, to the nearest place off the travelled portion of the highway or industrial road,
(b) serve the driver with a notice of driving prohibition, and
(c) if the driver is in possession of a driver's licence, request the driver to surrender that licence.
Reasonable and Probable Grounds
In order to serve a 24 hour prohibition under this section of the Motor Vehicle Act, the officer must have "reasonable and probable grounds" to believe that the driver is impaired by a drug other than alcohol. Reasonable and probable grounds are discussed in R v Storrey (Supreme Court of Canada 1990):
Section 450(1) requires that an arresting officer must subjectively have reasonable and probable grounds on which to base the arrest. Those grounds must, in addition, be justifiable from an objective point of view. That is to say, a reasonable person placed in the position of the officer must be able to conclude that there were indeed reasonable and probable grounds for the arrest.
A Quick Look is not Enough
Shining a flashlight in the face of a driver and taking a quick look would not generally lead to reasonable and probable grounds that the driver's ability to drive is impaired by a drug.
Today the officer conducts a Standardized Field Sobriety Test on the driver to gather the evidence to support issuing the prohibition.
Termination of 24 Hour Prohibition
If the Standardized Field Sobriety Test was not conducted by the officer, the driver can request that it be done:
215(8) If a driver who is served with a notice of driving prohibition under subsection (3)
(a) forthwith requests a peace officer to administer and does undergo as soon as practicable a prescribed physical coordination test, and
(b) satisfies a peace officer having charge of the matter that the driver's ability to drive a motor vehicle is not affected by a drug other than alcohol,
the prohibition from driving is terminated.
Officer's Notes as Evidence
At the conclusion of the incident, the officer completes notes that form part of the 24 hour prohibition and are kept as part of the report. These notes are a written explanation of the officer's reasonable and probable grounds.
Review With the Officer or Supervisor
You can always ask, but it is unlikely that this will change the decision made at the roadside. The officer has already decided based on evidence and the supervisor cannot cancel the 24 hour prohibition.
Review by the Superintendent
The review process is detailed in this policy document.
If you were prohibited for drug-affected driving, you can apply for a review because:
- You were not the driver or did not have care or control of the vehicle
- The police officer failed to administer the prescribed physical coordination test when requested
Reviews must be made within 7 days of receiving the prohibition.
Review by the Court
The second is in the courts, where all prohibitions of this nature can be subject to judicial review. I would recommend that this be done with the advice of a lawyer. The Lawyer Referral Service run by the Canadian Bar Association will find lawyers in your area that specialize in this aspect of law and a 15 minute consultation is free of charge.
Driving Record Entry
I have asked RoadSafetyBC about the driving record impact and will post it here once they respond.
Graduated Licensing Program
As for the GLP, I think and I understand that research has shown that it has reduced injury and death with regard to new drivers, whatever their age may be. It will not be going away, nor should it go away.
My opinion is that stronger sanctions should happen sooner to those drivers not in the GLP that show they cannot follow the driving rules.
It was not a mystery to your son that he was limited to the number of passengers that he could carry. In fact, it is stated on the back of his driver's license.
Friends Need to be Responsible Too
I applaud him for choosing to be the designated driver as that shows maturity on his part. However, he cannot choose to disregard the conditions of his license to drive. It's too bad that his circle of acquaintances put him in this situation and did not have the foresight to behave responsibly themselves.
Learn More
- Gordon v HMTQ and the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles - example of a judicial review
- Hale v The Superintendent of Motor Vehicles and the Attorney General of BC - Court will only intervene when there is no evidence to support the adjudicator
- Judicial Review Procedure Act
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