1 in 5 who challenge roadside ban win, but adjudication process flawed: lawyers

VANCOUVER – British Columbia has one of the country’s toughest drunk driving laws, but if drivers choose to challenge a roadside ban and the penalties and fines that come with it, they have at least a one-in-five chance of getting it tossed out.

The government amended its impaired driving law last year, and the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles says in the year since, about 22 per cent of drivers who challenged an immediate roadside prohibition got it overturned.

The amended law, among other things, requires police to tell drivers they can have a second test on a different breathalyzer if they fail the first one, and the lower of the two readings will prevail.

Defence lawyers applaud their success in getting prohibitions revoked, but they say a flawed adjudication process means many seemingly innocent people still get stuck with the drunk-driving penalties, while those who may be guilty often get off on a technicality.

They say the review process is unfair because they cannot cross-examine police officers or witnesses or request more evidence from police officers and because the roadside screening devices are often unreliable.

But B.C.’s superintendent of motor vehicles Sam MacLeod stands by the review process and the devices, saying they’ve been federally mandated and approved.