A West Vancouver driver has lost a bid to have a 90-day roadside suspension for drunk driving overturned.
John Bower Good asked a B.C. Supreme Court justice to overturn the suspension handed out by a West Vancouver police officer on April 3, 2014.
Police were called out at 1:30 a.m. that night for a report of a possible impaired driver, according to court documents. An officer waited at the north end of the Lions Gate Bridge, spotting the car heading into West Vancouver at about 1:46 a.m. The police officer then followed the car for about a kilometre, observing it swerve from side to side in the lane. After stopping the car, the officer noticed a strong odour of alcohol on the breath of the driver, identified as Good. When the officer asked Good what time he had his last drink, Good responded, “It’s not important.”
Good then failed the roadside Breathalyzer test. He was handed a 90 day-suspension and his vehicle was impounded.
Good requested a review of that decision by the B.C. Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, but the suspension was upheld in September 2015. In court, Good argued that the roadside test is unreliable because it’s possible the sample was taken less than 15 minutes after he’d had his last drink. That could have a produced a false high reading, he said.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Keith Bracken didn’t agree, however, noting the time the test was administered, at 1:49 a.m. was about 20 minutes after Good was seen by someone getting out of one vehicle and into his own at the Hyatt hotel in downtown Vancouver.
Bracken noted Good had also been offered a second roadside test, but had declined.
