Welcome to British Columbia’s only weekly DUI law update newsletter. This newsletter contains the most cutting-edge information, the newest case law, and helpful practice tips for DUI defence in BC.
Authored by Kyla Lee, BC’s Impaired Driving Update is released weekly on Thursdays.
What’s inside:
- IRP Defence Tip of the Week
- IRP Decision of the Week
- DUI Decision of the Week
- Kyla’s Insight
1. IRP Defence Tip of the Week
Defence counsel should be cautious about waiving delay in impaired driving cases because delay is often a structural failing of how these prosecutions occur. Police disclosure is frequently late or incomplete. Many times further information is received in last-minute pre-trial interviews with witnesses. Video and audio recordings of 911 calls, detachment events, and Watchguard all seem to come in dribs and drabs.
Waiving delay can implicitly transfer responsibility for systemic problems onto the accused.
There is also a strategic reason to not waive delay, even when the delay may fall at defence’s feet. Delay can expose weaknesses in the Crown’s case over time: witnesses forget details, continuity gaps become clearer, and compliance with technical procedures becomes harder to reconstruct months or years later.
Preserving the record on delay pressures the Crown to move efficiently and disclose properly. It also protects the client from being blamed for institutional delay that is outside their control.
2. IRP Decision of the Week
Prohibition Revoked:
Police received multiple reports of an allegedly impaired driver running stop signs and falling asleep at intersections. The vehicle was later reported to be idling outside a pub. When police arrived, they located the vehicle unoccupied. The owner exited the pub and admitted driving.
The applicant provided evidence, supported by witnesses, that he had consumed alcohol in the pub before police arrival. Although he was only there for a short time, the other evidence in the case demonstrated that he drank beverages quickly, meaning the short time did not lead to an inference that very little alcohol was consumed.
Kyla Lee successfully argued that the ASD test results were falsely elevated by the post-driving consumption, and therefore were not reflective of the blood alcohol level at the time of driving.
3. DUI Decision of the Week
In R. v. Duke, 2025 ONCJ 524, the court stayed dangerous driving and assault with a weapon charges under the 18-month ceiling. This was because systemic and institutional failings caused what was otherwise a straightforward trial to take markedly longer than it should have. The net delay was 17.5 months.
Although 111 days of delay were attributed to defence due to illness and administrative errors, the judge found a stay was warranted because defence had been proactive in seeking an early trial but the court was unable to accommodate it.
One of the main issues prompting the stay was the “stacking” of court lists. This is an unfortunately common practice wherein multiple trials are scheduled for the same day to avoid under-utilising court time. Because dangerous driving cases are less serious than sexual assaults or fatality cases, the accused’s trial was bumped or demoted in priority. The defence only had chunks and scraps of court time over the span of eight months. Many days did not even start until late afternoon.
The judge attributed these delays to a chronic deficiency of judicial resources, noting that the judicial complement had not changed in twenty years despite a massive increase in population and caseload. By failing to provide the necessary tools for timely justice, the government was found to have been complacent, creating an environment where even proactive legal teams were stymied by a logjam of cases and a lack of available assist courts to handle overflows.
4. Kyla’s Insight
A totally common problem: sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and other cases are often prioritized over the lowly impaired. It is rare to end up in a courtroom with a full day of court time just assigned to one case, and so trials proceeding in dribs and drabs can become common, especially with these offences.
This case also shows why it is important to make the delay argument even if there is substantial defence delay: the system must accommodate the accused and the burden cannot only be on the defence to bend to availability when it comes up. There is a lot of pressure from Crown and courts on defence to waive delay, but at the end of the day, holding firm can help to preserve a record of the court’s own failings down the road.
5. Resources
Want to know more about impaired driving and Immediate Roadside Prohibitions in BC? Here are some helpful resources:
The BC Motor Vehicle Act: https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/96318_00
Criminal Code Offences Relating to Conveyances: https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/page-46.html#h-121277
CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/
RoadSafetyBC: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/transportation/driving-and-cycling/roadsafetybc
6. Contact Us
The police have their experts. You should have yours.
Charged with impaired driving? Get the lawyer who literally wrote the book on it. Call Kyla Lee at Acumen Law today. Visit our contact form or call 604-685-8889 or email kyla@vancouvercriminallaw.com
7. Featured Firm
Featured Firm: Acumen Law Corporation
Based in Vancouver, Acumen Law Corporation is one of British Columbia’s leading criminal defence firms, recognized across Canada for its work in impaired driving law. The firm’s lawyers have successfully defended thousands of Immediate Roadside Prohibitions, criminal impaired charges, and driving suspensions.
Kyla Lee, a partner at Acumen Law, is widely regarded as a national authority on DUI law. She has authored multiple legal textbooks, teaches DUI defence across North America, and regularly appears in the media explaining developments in driving law.
Acumen Law is known for its deep understanding of both the law and the science behind impaired driving cases. The team approaches every file with meticulous preparation and a commitment to protecting the rights of drivers across BC.
