Licence ban unrelated to black points system

Licence ban unrelated to black points system

By Bassam Za'za', Senior ReporterPublished: April 07, 2009, GULF NEWS

Dubai: A four-year driving ban might await drivers who will be referred to a traffic court for driving under the influence of liquor, warned a senior prosecutor on Tuesday.

The Dubai Traffic Public Prosecution has started asking traffic courts to impose a two-year licence annulment and two years' ban on drunken drivers from applying for a new one or renewing their driving licences, Salah Bu Farousha, the Head of Traffic Public Prosecution, told Gulf News on Tuesday.

"Since April 1, the traffic prosecution started requesting, in its arraignment sheets, the Traffic Courts of First Instance and Appeal to revoke the licences of drunken drivers for two years and a similar period preventing drunk drivers from applying for or renewing a licence. We are very serious and strict concerning this request.

" More than 60 per cent of last year's 4,000 of traffic cases were cases of suspects caught driving under the influence of liquor. In this year's first quarter we registered 333 cases, the number of which has increased compared to the 297 cases in the same period of 2008," Bu Farousha said.
He said the driving licence of a drunke driver is revoked upon a court judgment.

"The system of deducting traffic points from someone's traffic file is different from a court judgment to revoke a licence& We request in the bill of charges to revoke a drunken driver's licence and impose a licence-renewal ban and the rest is up to the judge's discretion.

"Even if a drunken driver does not exceed 24 traffic points, the traffic law allows us to place the above request," he added.

Addressing drunken drivers, Bu Farousha cautioned: "Those convicts won't be able to sit behind a steering unless they place an official request to retain their driving licences at the Dubai Traffic Public Prosecution. I would like to clarify that we usually inform the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) about anyone's licence that has been revoked upon a court order. We do so to prevent anyone from re-applying for a new licence."

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Traffic_and_Transport/10302225.html