Receiving a Notice of Prohibition or a Notice of Intent to prohibit your license can be a very stressful situation. The consequences of losing your license are more than just a loss of driving privileges. For many, this can mean the loss of employment, the loss of family time, and the loss of income. Kyla Lee is an experienced lawyer who fights ICBC prohibition letters. Her experience and knowledge in this area make her well-suited to defend your case, and to maximize the chances of keeping your license.

Kyla Lee can assist you with challenging a driving prohibition, appealing a driving prohibition, cancelling a driving prohibition, or shortening or reducing a driving prohibition. She has argued countless cases successfully for her clients in this area.

What is a Notice of Intent to Prohibit

A Notice of Intent to Prohibit is a notification from the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles that informs a driver that they are going to be receiving a driving prohibition. You have 21 days from the date on the letter to make submissions to the Superintendent asking for a reconsideration of a driving prohibition. Lawyer Kyla Lee has written countless letters in response to a Notice of Intent to Prohibit and knows the submissions that are most likely to lead to a successful outcome.

A Notice of Intent to Prohibit is not to be confused with a Notice of Prohibition. A Notice of Prohibition informs a driver that they are immediately prohibited from driving and must sign and date the Notice acknowledging the prohibition. It is very important to note that if you are served a Notice of Prohibition, the Superintendent will only start counting the days of prohibition from the date of your signature on the letter. Dating the letter for after you have already stopped driving will result in a later date to reinstate your license.

Why ICBC Wants to Prohibit Your License

There are two reasons you may be receiving a driving prohibition from ICBC. One is a driving prohibition for points, meaning that you have accumulated too many Driver Penalty Points on your record in a period of time. The other is a driving prohibition for high risk driving offences. These are typically offences like alcohol and drug-related incidents, distracted driving or cell phone tickets, and excessive speeding. Even though you may not meet the threshold number of points for a driving prohibition, a combination of high risk offences, and in some cases only one high risk offence, will also trigger a driving prohibition.

Receiving a Driving Prohibition on the Basis of a Ticket In Dispute

There is a third type of driving prohibition. This is typically known as a driving prohibition for street racing or stunting. These prohibitions are issued by the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles based on the report of a police officer about a driving incident. Typically, a ticket is issued to you followed by a driving prohibition in the mail a few weeks later. In such a case, the ticket may already be in dispute and the prohibition will still be issued. It is important to retain a lawyer to defend against this type of driving prohibition. There are Charter and legal defences to these prohibitions, and a lawyer like Kyla Lee will have the experience and skills necessary to defend against them.

Kyla Lee is very familiar with dealing with driving prohibitions for tickets that are in dispute. Her methods are frequently very successful for her clients, and her combination of strong legal acumen and persuasive writing skills assists in this process.

Driving After Receiving a Notice of Intent to Prohibit

Many clients are concerned about whether they can continue to drive after receiving a Notice of Intent to Prohibit. The answer is yes, subject to some cautions. If you do not make your submissions to RoadSafetyBC within the 21 day time limit, you could be pulled over and receive a Notice of Prohibition. However, as long as your submissions are made in the required time frame this will not occur.

You cannot drive after receiving a Notice of Prohibition. If you do so you are at risk of being pulled over and served with the driving prohibition personally. You will only get credit for being prohibited starting from that day, regardless of whether you have not driven for several days already. Furthermore, if the police discover that you already received the Notice of Prohibition you can be charged with Driving While Prohibited.

Disputing a Notice of Intent to Prohibit

Kyla Lee is an experienced and highly-skilled lawyer, with a proven track record in disputing a Notice of Intent to Prohibit. Within the required time frame of 21 days, she will conduct a detailed interview with you to understand why you need to keep your license, and what has led to the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles making the decision to prohibit your license. In addition, Kyla will develop a personalized plan for you, assisting you in taking the necessary steps to demonstrate to RoadSafetyBC and ICBC that you are a safe driver.

Kyla’s focus in driving prohibition review cases is on demonstrating to the Superintendent that there has been rehabilitation and remorse.

All written material in your case will be submitted directly to ICBC so that no deadlines are missed. When ICBC reviews a dispute of a Notice of Intent to Prohibit letter or a dispute of a Notice of Driving Prohibition, they charge a review fee of $100, which must be paid by Certified Cheque or Money Order made out to the Minister of Finance, or paid in person when the submissions are given to ICBC.

It is always a wise decision to dispute a driving prohibition if there is a case for disputing it. Driving prohibitions can have far-reaching consequences, and can cost you your employment, your livelihood, and your family obligations. It is also important to dispute a driving prohibition because if further incidents or tickets are added to your record, another driving prohibition will be triggered. This can cause a snowball effect that is best to be avoided.

Once the adjudicator at ICBC or RoadSafetyBC receives the submission, they will review it to determine whether to cancel the prohibition, reduce the length of the prohibition, or leave the prohibition as is. The adjudicator will consider your personal circumstances, reasons why you need to keep your license, what is on your driving record, as well as what you have done to show that you are rehabilitated. The driving prohibition dispute is not the appropriate place to argue the merits of incidents recorded on the record, and adjudicators will not consider these submissions.

Unsuccessful Driving Prohibition Disputes

An unsuccessful driving prohibition dispute can, in some circumstances be reviewed. A person who receives a Notice of Prohibition has 30 days from the date on the Notice to appeal the prohibition to BC Supreme Court. These appeals are highly technical administrative law appeals and it is best to have an experienced lawyer like Kyla Lee represent you in such an appeal.

Kyla Lee accepts select cases in appeals of unsuccessful driving prohibition reviews under this process. Because of the nuances of administrative law, not every case may be suitable for this process. Lawyer Kyla Lee understands these nuances, and can quickly and easily identify those cases which have a probability of success and those that do not.

The best way to avoid a driving prohibition is to avoid having traffic tickets added to your driving record. Kyla Lee can help you with traffic tickets before they appear on your record, but she can also assist in cases of driving prohibition reviews for Notice of Intent to Prohibit and Notice of Prohibition letters.