Script 192 gives general information only, not legal advice. If you have a legal problem or need legal advice, you should speak to a lawyer. For the name of a lawyer to consult, call Lawyer Referral at 604.687.3221 in the lower mainland or 1.800.663.1919 elsewhere in British Columbia.

This script explains what may happen if you drive a motor vehicle while you are prohibited from driving (legally not allowed to drive).

Five types of driving prohibitions

1. BC Superintendent of Motor Vehicles prohibition
The BC Superintendent of Motor Vehicles can prohibit you from driving in any of the following cases:

• the Superintendent considers it in the public interest – for example, if you have a bad driving record 
• your driver’s license was suspended in anther province or state
• you don’t pay money, called damages, that a court orders for a vehicle accident in which you were the driver or vehicle owner
• you don’t take a medical exam that the Superintendent orders

2. 24-hour prohibition
If you have care or control of a vehicle and the police have reasonable grounds to believe that your ability to drive is affected by alcohol or drugs, they may:

• require you to remove your vehicle from the road
• require you to give them your driver’s licence
• give you “notice” of a 24-hour prohibition. This “notice” is a document. 
• impound your vehicle (have it towed) to prevent you from driving during the 24-hour prohibition

If the police give you this prohibition without testing your breath, you can try to cancel the prohibition by immediately asking the police to test your breath and then giving them a breath sample. If your blood-alcohol level is not over 50 milligrams per 100 milliliters of blood, the police have to cancel the prohibition. However, if your blood-alcohol level is over 80 milligrams, the police can charge you with a criminal offence – refer to script 190, called “Drinking and Driving”.

If the prohibition is because of alcohol, you can ask the Superintendent to review the prohibition within 7 days of getting the notice. However, even if you do this, the Superintendent can cancel the prohibition only if you were not the driver or you did not have care or control of the vehicle or the police failed to test your blood alcohol when you asked.

3. 90-day prohibition
If the police have reasonable grounds to believe that you had care or control of a vehicle after drinking and your breath or blood sample shows your blood-alcohol level is over 80 milligrams within 3 hours of driving, they will take your driver’s licence and give you notice of a 90-day driving prohibition, called an administrative driving prohibition, or ADP. If you refuse to give the police a blood or breath sample, the police will give you the same 90-day driving prohibition. In both these cases, you cannot drive for 90 days, starting 21 days after the police give you the prohibition notice.

You can ask the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles to review the prohibition within 7 days of getting the notice. The notice explains how to do this. Even if you take this action, the Superintendent may still decide not to cancel the prohibition – for more information, refer to script 190, called “Drinking and Driving”.

4. Automatic prohibition
You automatically lose the right to drive if you are convicted of a Criminal Code offense related to motor vehicles. For example, if you are convicted of impaired driving, dangerous driving, or hit and run, you are automatically prohibited from driving for 12 months. This is the penalty for a first offense –unless a judge orders a longer prohibition. For a second conviction, you will be prohibited from driving for 3 years. For third and subsequent convictions, you will be prohibited from driving indefinitely.

Starting June 15, 2005, if you are convicted of a Criminal Code offense relating to motor vehicles, you have to complete a user-pay rehabilitation program. This type of program may also be required if you apply for a driver’s licence and you have received:

• two 90-day administrative driving prohibitions within 5 years,
• three 24-hour driving prohibitions within 5 years, or
• a combined total of three 24-hour prohibitions or 90-day prohibitions within 5 years.

If you are convicted of 3 of more alcohol-related Criminal Code offences, you can re-apply for a driver’s license after 5 years if you successfully complete the rehabilitation program.

5. Court-ordered prohibition
If you are convicted of any of a wide variety of driving offences, the judge may prohibit you from driving, in addition to your sentence, or penalty.

If you are charged with driving while prohibited
To convict you of this offense, the prosecutor must usually prove 3 things beyond a reasonable doubt:

• that you were driving,
• that you were prohibited from driving,
• and that you knew you were prohibited from driving.

The prosecutor will normally use several documents to show these things. You should carefully review these documents with a lawyer before deciding how to proceed.

Penalties for driving while prohibited

Fine, jail, or both
For a first offence, a judge must fine you at least $500. But the judge does not have to send you to jail, and usually doesn’t.

For a second or subsequent offense, a judge will fine you at least $500 but not more than $2000 and must send you to jail for at least 14 days.

Driving prohibition of 12 months or longer
In addition to a fine and jail term, if you’re convicted of driving while prohibited, even if it’s your first offence, you will be prohibited from driving for at least 12 months. The judge can consider your driving record and impose a longer prohibition, in addition to the automatic 12-month prohibition.

Vehicle impoundment
There are other penalties too. If the police catch you driving while prohibited, they will impound, or take away, your vehicle. It will also be impounded if you are suspended from driving for Criminal Code convictions related to motor vehicles or if you are prohibited from driving because you are medically unfit.

The impoundment lasts 60 days for a first incident and 90 days for subsequent incidents in the previous two years. You have to pay all costs of the impoundment before you get your vehicle back. You can ask the Superintendent to review the impoundment within 30 days of the date of the notice of impoundment. The impoundment notice explains how to apply for a review.

Summary
Driving while prohibited is a complex offence with severe penalties. If you are charged, you should at least talk to a lawyer and get some initial advice. Then you can decide whether you want to hire a lawyer to represent you in court.

[updated September 2008]

Dial-A-Law© is a library of legal information that is available:

• by phone, as recorded scripts, and
• by audio and text, on the CBA BC Branch website.

To access Dial-A-Law, call 604.687.4680 in the lower mainland or 1.800.565.5297 elsewhere in BC. Dial-A-Law is available online at www.cba.org/bc in Public & Media.

The Dial-A-Law library is prepared by lawyers and gives practical information on many areas of law in British Columbia. Dial-A-Law is funded by the Law Foundation of British Columbia and sponsored by the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia.

© Copyright 1983-2008 Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia