Administrative Driving Prohibitions
Section 94.1 of the Motor Vehicle Act causes a peace officer to invoke the Administrative Driving Prohibition against any driver that the officer has reasonable and probable grounds to believe had a blood alcohol content of 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood, commonly known as being over .08, or against any driver that refused without reasonable excuse to supply a sample of breath that was demanded pursuant to the Criminal Code.
The peace officer must seize the driver's license and serve a notice of prohibition on the driver. If the driver does not have his or her license with them at the time, they are required to promptly surrender their driver's license to ICBC. It is a separate offence to fail to surrender the license.
The prohibition order acts as a temporary drivers license for 21 days. Following that period the driver is prohibited from driving in British Columbia for 90 days.
The prohibition may be reviewed by the Office of the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles if the driver applies and pays the application and hearing fees within 7 days of being served with the notice of prohibition. The driver must also have surrendered all drivers licenses before the review will be considered.
This prohibition takes place separately from any charges of impaired driving or refusing to provide a breath sample. Since those offenses carry a mandatory one year license suspension under the Motor Vehicle Act, impaired drivers may face a total of 15 months prohibition for first time "routine" conviction.
