Inquest jury to provide recommendations for licence suspension process

Testimony has wrapped up, and the jury is expected to deliberate today in the coroner's inquest into the death of Walter Blight.

The 72-year old Elliot Lake man died in a collision south of Sudbury in July, 2015.

The five member jury heard this week that he likely shouldn't have been driving due to various medical conditions.

The inquest heard that police and physicians submit, usually by fax,driver'slicencereview requests to the Ministry of Transportation, the licencing authority in Ontario.

But due to gaps in the process the suspension of a driver's licence isn't immediate, and some still get behind the wheel when they shouldn't.

"Hearing the process is concerning," said one jurorto the final witness at the inquest,MTO policy officer Stella Velocci.

She testified the licence review forms physicians and police use are in the process of being revised. The ministry is also in the process of adding e-reporting, since currently the forms can only be faxed or mailed in.

Coming July 1, Veloccisaidnurse practitioners and occupational therapists will be included onthe list of professionals who can submit a driver's licence review to the MTO.

However, the inquest heard there is no directionprovided on the forms for those filling them out, and if the informationdoesn't meet ministry standards the MTOwill requestfurther information from the driver before a suspension can be issued.

The timeframe to get a driver's licence suspended for medical reasons can take anaverage of 6 to 8 weeks, possibly longer if further documentation is required.

Veloccialso spoke about a phone number physicians and police can call at the MTOto discuss a driver's licence review, however it only operates during business hours and very few people know about it. She admitted the number is also not listed on the forms.

While testifying,Velocciwas provided a scenario by one of the counsels, where a physician phones the hotline about a driver who needs to have their licence suspended due to medical concerns. As long as all the information required is provided over the phone, and police are on hand to issue the licence suspension, Veloccisaid it could happen immediately.

However,Velocciadmitted that in her more than 20 year of working at the ministry this has never happened.

Lawyers present possible recommendations

Lawyers will now present possible recommendations to the inquest jury.

Along withPrabhuRajan, the counsel to the coroner,there arelawyers representing the Advocacy Centre for Elderly (ACE), the ARCH Disability Law Centre, the Greater Sudbury Police, and the provincial government, which includesthe OPP.

"We'll work together with the parties to see if there are certain recommendations that we could propose to the jury for them to make," Rajansaid.

"Recommendations we think that we all agree on, and that we all think could benefit and close gaps that we discussed."

He saidit's up to the jury if they want to accept, modify or rejectthesuggestions from the lawyers.

"The jury is very engaged and they've been very involved. They understand the issues, so nothing is going to be a mystery to them. They've raised [the same] concerns that we have raised."

Rajanadmittedthe final recommendations from a coroner's inquest are not mandatory.However, those agencies or departments thatare on the receiving end must respond to the chief coroner's officewithin 6 months, even just to explain why they didn't follow through.

"[The recommendations are]not binding, but they're pretty persuasive. People that receive them and might have to implement some changes take them very seriously."