DriveSmartBC

Mark Clayton Mahovlich needed some ID because his driver's licence had been cancelled. He applied for a BCID using his brother's Care Card and birth certificate, neither of which carries a photo. Mark has a history of identifying himself as his brother and has caused significant problems for the brother by doing this.

For most of us, there is no way around it. If we drive a motor vehicle on a highway we must carry our driver's licence with us at all times and produce it on the demand of a police officer. We must also allow the officer to take it in hand and examine it. There is no 24 hour grace period to produce it at your convenience, contrary to what many people commonly think.

Ian Shafer used to live in Las Vegas, Nevada and had licensed his car there. He moved to Oak Bay, B.C. but had not obtained a BC driver's license or BC license plates and insurance at the time he was stopped for speeding by police in Victoria.

Regardless of the fact that I paid $75 to renew my driver's license, it isn't mine. In fact, it states on the back of the license that "This card remains the property of the issuing agency and must be surrendered upon request." If that request is made or the law requires its return there is no refund of fees and you must give it back.

When I worked in traffic law enforcement it was standard procedure for me to scan the rear of every driver's license that I examined. Often I would find the restriction 21, corrective lenses required printed there. If the person was not wearing glasses I would look carefully at their eyes to see if I could see contact lenses. If they were there, I could see them most of the time.

It was always a challenge when the violator failed to produce their driver's license. Were they being truthful when they told me that they had forgotten it at home? Did the name, address and birth date that they gave me belong to someone else? That honest face was occasionally nothing more than window dressing.

Altab Ismail has a significant driving record and owes ICBC money from an unresolved collision debt, so his driver's license was canceled when he made no attempt to satisfy the debt. From Mr. Ismail's point of view the difficulty lay in the fact that he worked as a delivery driver and required a driver's licence in order to earn his living.

Thank you to everyone who responded to my request for a positive topic to write about! I heard from both a driving school instructor and a senior on this one, which is the idea that many older drivers take their driving responsibilities very seriously. So seriously in fact, that some choose to stop driving through their own choice rather than because they are forced to.

Volume 45, Number 3 of the IIHS Status Report looks at two subjects in this issue, motorcycles and graduated licensing of new drivers. For motorcyclists, the wearing of helmets, the use of anti-lock brakes and the fact that mandatory training for new drivers does not seem to reduce crash rates form the bulk of the content.

This case was heard in the BC Supreme Court in front of The Honourable Mr. Justice Burnyeat. Ali Maasoumian has an unenviable driving record. He accumulated 17 penalty points and the Superintendent issued a notice prohibiting him from driving for 8 months.