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Going the Extra Mile in Defending My Clients

Impaired driving cases are highly complex and technical. Understanding the issues that arise in these cases requires a strong level of knowledge in the law, Charter rights and litigation, and the scientific underpinning of impaired driving charges. My goal as a driving lawyer with a focus in impaired driving cases is to have the best level of knowledge possible about all of these issues.

Many lawyers do not take steps to appreciate or understand the complex science that goes into impaired driving cases. Faced with an instrument like the one depicted above, they would struggle to identify what it is. It’s a liquid chromatography mass spectrometry instrument, for the record. And when it comes to operating the instrument and interpreting and understanding the results, many lawyers would similarly be at a loss.

I try to go the extra mile for my clients so that I can easily spot the important issues.

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Driving Law with Kyla Lee: Episode Seven

In Episode Seven of my Driving Law Podcast, I sit down with Paul Doroshenko of Acumen Law Corporation.

We first discuss the Senate Bill S-251, which purports to do away with mandatory minimum sentences and restore discretion to sentencing judges in certain circumstances where a minimum sentence would be inappropriate. Then, Paul and I talk about the future of self-driving cars, and how a Tesla accident may spell the end of them. Finally, Paul and I address the Cannabis Act in British Columbia and how a BC impaired driving decision may shape the future of enforcement under provincial cannabis regulation.

You can listen to the podcast on Player FM, or subscribe on iTunes, or tune in on Soundcloud.

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Carding statistics show random breath testing would have a disproportionate effect on people of colour

A recent article in The Globe and Mail shed light on an issue many of us have long suspected, namely that street checks by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) disproportionately involved Indigenous and Black Canadians.

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Here are all the Offences in BC’s Cannabis Act

There has been a great deal of discussion about the British Columbia Cannabis Act, but there has not been a solid breakdown of all of the offences under the Act. In an effort to provide a helpful guide, this post summarizes all the offences laid out in the Cannabis Act.

What is particularly interesting about the penalties in the Cannabis Act, is that many of the offences for possession, production, and distribution mimic those in the proposed federal regulations. This would mean that police have the opportunity to charge individuals under the provincial law or the federal law.

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Driving Law with Kyla Lee: Episode Six

In Episode Six of Driving Law with Kyla Lee, I sit down with Ian Tootill, founder of SenseBC to discuss traffic safety laws in British Columbia. Ian shares important insight into problems with our speeding, electronic device, and left lane laws. He also offers some insight into the Driver Penalty Point program, and how that could be overhauled to create a more sensible system of keeping track of bad drivers.

But before that, I talk about the Senate of Canada’s vote to remove the random breath testing provisions from Bill C-46, and why that is an important step toward ensuring the constitutional validity of the bill.

Subscribe on iTunes or listen here on Soundcloud.

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Distracted Driving and Impaired Driving: Is there a lesser of two so-called evils?

An ongoing case recently aired at a small claims court in BC could have wider implications for insurance cases in the province. A driver named Angela Seeley who crashed her car is suing the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) for refusing to honour her insurance claim. ICBC believes Ms. Seeley was impaired at the time of the collision and it alleges she lied by saying she had nothing to drink before it happened. Ms. Seeley agrees her driving was affected leading up to the crash, however, not by drinking but by texting.

This case raises some interesting points about why someone would admit to using their phone while driving but deny having consumed alcohol before driving. What are the differences between driving while impaired and driving while distracted? What are their implications for insurance claims and, crucially, how severely they are punished?

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Weird and Wacky Wednesdays

The law is a funny thing. It applies in all sorts of really interesting scenarios, and much of it seems rather straightforward. But sometimes the law can be weird and wacky. Sometimes the law can apply in strange circumstances that do not make much sense at all. Or, the particular facts of a case and be so unusual that they will make you laugh. Or cry. Or both.

For that reason, I’ve started a new weekly blog series called Weird and Wacky Wednesdays. In this series, I will do a roundup of a few cases that are weird, wacky, or otherwise strange and interesting. My hope is to provide a quick summary of the case and a discussion about some interesting legal issues that arise in the case.

So here we go with Round One!

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Driving Law with Kyla Lee: Episode Five

On Episode Five of Driving Law with Kyla Lee I sat down with Paul Doroshenko from Acumen Law Corporation. We talked about the changes to ICBC’s Driver Risk Premium, which will increase premiums for drivers who are convicted of any high risk offences. And in the second half of the episode, I spoke with Acumen’s Agnes Tong about how DUI convictions will impact your ability to enter Canada or remain in Canada as a visitor or Permanent Resident.

You can listen here, subscribe on iTunes, and tune in next week for another episode.

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