Can you get a ticket for boating on flooded roads?

The title of this blog post asks the unusual question, can you get a ticket for boating on flooded roads? It’s an interesting thing to consider and certainly a question people would probably never consider or believe to be possible.

While there is no precedent of anybody ever getting a ticket for such a thing, and as far as we know, it has never happened before, that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.

Why boat on a road?

Late last year, certain areas in the province of BC were hit with some very heavy rainfall which resulted in some very serious flooding. Because of this, there were a lot of people getting into boats for a variety of different reasons.

Some people were having fun boating on the flooded roads, while others were using their boats to rescue animals.

While taking your boat on a flooded road may seem like a fun and good idea at the time, you could ultimately expose yourself to some legal liabilities that you may not have given much thought to.

Possible consequences

One legal liability you could expose yourself to is the dangerous operation of a conveyance under the Criminal Code. This is because, under the Criminal Code, a conveyance includes a boat.

Then on top of that, because where you are operating the boat is actually a roadway, and you don’t know what’s under the water, you are also exposing yourself and other people to risks and as a result, you could be charged criminally.

If you end up being charged for the dangerous operation of a conveyance, the minimum penalty is a one-year driving prohibition under the BC Motor Vehicle Act.

Plausibility of a traffic ticket

Then comes the question of whether you could get a traffic ticket while boating on a flooded road.

The key to answering this is first answering the question of whether the road can actually be considered a road.

Under the Motor Vehicle Act, a road is only a road if it is a public place, private place, or passageway to which the public has access or is invited for the purpose of parking or servicing motor vehicles.

There is potential for a case to be made that in the event of a flood, given the fact that the road is several feet underwater, it is not a road anymore, and therefore is no longer open to the public for driving.

What is a motor vehicle?

The other hurdle that exists in this context as well, is whether or not your boat falls within the definition of a motor vehicle under the Motor Vehicle Act.

This is because, in order to be ticketed, you have to be operating a motor vehicle. The Motor Vehicle Act is much more specific with its definitions here than the Criminal Code’s definition of a conveyance.

If you were using oars to move your boat around, you would be safe from a traffic ticket, however, you could be at risk of a traffic ticket for using a sailboat or motorboat on a flooded road, because it would technically fall under the definition of vehicle in those circumstances.

Because of this, even if you got over the hurdle of proving a road is not a road if it is flooded, you could still be at risk of a traffic ticket given that a boat falls under the definition of a motor vehicle under the Motor Vehicle Act.

Further risks

What this also means, is technically you could get an IRP in a boat on a flooded road, so if you’re driving and boating in those circumstances, you are also at risk of getting an IRP.

You could also expose yourself to getting tickets for violating traffic rules, as a boat wouldn’t have brakes or turn signals, which are all traffic rules you need to comply with.

So, the answer to the question of can you get a ticket for boating on flooded roads, is that yes, it is in fact possible.

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