When it comes to disputing an Immediate Roadside Prohibition (IRP), you will need to provide evidence that proves your innocence. That is why forensic experts are often integral to these cases, as they can provide an independent expert opinion as to whether or not your blood alcohol content was over the legal limit.
If you would like to dispute your driving prohibition, please contact us at Mickelson & Whysall to speak to a Vancouver impaired driving lawyer.
Disputing a failed Approved Screening Device reading
If you are stopped by the police and asked to provide a breath sample, you will be asked to blow into an Approved Screening Device (ASD). If it reads ‘fail’ on two separate occasions, then it is taken as proof that you were driving while impaired by alcohol.
However, ASDs are not 100% accurate. In particular, the presence of mouth alcohol can significantly affect the reading. For example, if you finish an alcoholic beverage and then blow into an ASD moments later, it is highly possible that the amount of alcohol on your breath will result in a fail reading – even if there is little alcohol in your bloodstream.
This happens quite frequently, as it is common for people to finish their drink in a bar, get straight into their vehicle to drive home, only to be stopped by the police moments later. Yet in some of these cases, the accused has consumed very little alcohol – so little, in fact, that he/she could never be over the legal limit.
If this has happened to you, you will appreciate that it is a very confusing and frustrating position to be in. On the one hand you cannot believe that you were over the prescribed limit, yet on the other, there are two ASD readings telling you otherwise. But you should not give up on your case, as it is possible to provide evidence to the contrary.
Evidence to the contrary
If you can provide evidence that proves your blood alcohol content was less than 80mg%, then it is known as providing evidence to the contrary.
One of the most compelling pieces of evidence you can present is a favourable forensic expert report. In this report, a toxicologist will consider the amount of alcohol you consumed and calculate what your likely blood alcohol content would have been at the time you were stopped and tested by the police. This report will be independent and based entirely on the facts available.
If this expert finds that you could not have been over the legal limit, it therefore follows that the ASD must have wrongly registered a fail reading. This evidence is hard to dispute, and is one of the best ways to get an IRP revoked.
Contact an experienced Criminal Defence Lawyer to defend your IRP
The success of your IRP hearing will hinge upon the evidence presented. If you have a favourable expert report which establishes that your blood alcohol content could not have been above the legal limit, your IRP will almost certainly be revoked.
At Mickelson & Whysall we are highly skilled in defending IRPs. We understand what evidence needs to be collected to prove your innocence, and will organize an expert report if we feel it is vital to the success of your case. Given our experience in this area of the law, we only instruct the best experts possible.
Call a Vancouver Criminal Lawyer at 604-688-8588 now!