Episode 412: Chewing Tobacco, IRP Statistics, and Public Safety in Crisis

This week on Driving Law, Kyla Lee and Paul Doroshenko unpack a major BC Supreme Court decision that strikes down an Immediate Roadside Prohibition due to flawed and speculative reasoning by the Superintendent’s office. The case involved a driver who claimed that chewing tobacco remained in his mouth during a breath test. The adjudicator dismissed his explanation based on assumptions about police training and stereotypical beliefs about how a person “should” behave. The court rejected this reasoning, calling it unjustified, unintelligible, and lacking transparency. Kyla and Paul explain why this decision is a rare but important win against the reverse-engineered logic often used to uphold IRPs. Next, they discuss a Toronto Sun article claiming BC has the highest rate of impaired driving in Canada. Despite the province’s “toughest drunk driving laws,” the data may reflect the sheer volume of IRPs issued—not actual impairment. They explore whether the statistics signal a policy failure and question the effectiveness of deterrence in the absence of routine enforcement. Finally, the Ridiculous Driver of the Week is a Minnesota man who fled a DUI investigation by hiding in a river and covering himself in mud—hoping to avoid detection, Predator-style. He was found and arrested. Check out the 'Lawyer Told Me Not To Talk To You' T-shirts and hoodies at Lawyertoldme.com and 'Sit Still Jackson' at sitstilljackson.com.