Alberta’s impaired driving laws under the SafeRoads Alberta tribunal are complex. These laws provide drivers with certain rights in certain situations. One of these rights is the right to a roadside appeal. This right only applies to certain license suspensions under Alberta’s drunk driving laws.
When does a person have the right to a roadside appeal?
A person has the right to appeal their driver’s license suspension (IRS suspension) at the roadside in 5 different situations. These situations are:
- If a peace officer (often a police officer or sheriff) has reasonable grounds to believe the novice driver has any alcohol or drugs in their body;
- If a peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe a commercial driver, while driving a commercial vehicle, has any alcohol or drugs in their body;
- If a peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe the driver has a blood alcohol concentration at the time of driving that is equal to or exceeds 50 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood;
- If a peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe the driver’s ability to operate a vehicle is impaired by alcohol or drugs or a combination of the two; and
- If a peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe the driver, within 2 hours of ceasing to operate a vehicle, has a blood alcohol concentration equal to or exceeds 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood.
The length of the suspension depends on which one of these situations occurs. To see the length of suspensions, please click here.
A person does not have the right to a roadside appeal if they refuse or fail to comply with a demand, made by a peace officer, to undergo a sobriety test. This is important because once you refuse to blow into the breathalyzer, you will be issued a refusal license suspension, and you will have no right to blow into a breathalyzer to appeal it at the roadside.
How does a person exercise their right to a roadside appeal?
For a person to trigger their right to a roadside appeal, upon receiving their license suspension for a DUI, they must immediately request to do a roadside appeal.
When this happens, the police officer must provide the person with the opportunity to undergo a roadside appeal.
How do you do a roadside appeal?
There are 5 ways a roadside appeal is done. They are:
- A roadside breathalyzer,
- A breathalyzer at the police station,
- A drug screening device,
- A sample of blood or urine, or
- A drug recognition evaluation.
If the basis of the driving suspension is that the person’s ability to operate a vehicle was impaired by a combination of drugs and alcohol, then the roadside appeal must be completed on:
- Either a roadside breathalyzer or a breathalyzer at the police station,
AND
- Either a drug recognition device, approved drug screening equipment, or a sample of blood or urine.
What happens if you do a roadside appeal?
If you do a roadside appeal of your DUI license suspension, there is a chance that your license suspension may be immediately cancelled. Your license suspension may be immediately cancelled if you do a roadside appeal, and the result of the appeal shows you are not drunk or impaired by drugs.
It is important to note that a roadside appeal cannot be used to issue a more severe provincial DUI license suspension. This means the roadside appeal can reduce the length of your license suspension or cancel it altogether depending on the results of it.
Of course, if your roadside appeal confirms the Immediate Roadside Sanctions license suspension you were issued, then your license suspension remains in place.
It is also important to note that you still have the right to appeal your SafeRoads license suspension to the SafeRoads Adjudicators, regardless if you take the roadside appeal. The roadside appeal does not prevent you from appealing your DUI license suspension with a lawyer within 7 days of you being issued the Dunk Driving License Suspension.
Davidson Gregory will fight for your License
If you have received a Notice of Administrative Penalty for drunk driving in Alberta, contact the experienced DUI lawyers at Davidson Gregory to help. The drinking and driving law lawyers at Davidson Gregory have a wealth of experience fighting SafeRoads license suspensions and will fight to get your license back.
