DRIVING LICENCE SUSPENSIONS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27308, 26 March 1954, Page 13

DRIVING LICENCE SUSPENSIONS

RECENT CHANGES IN LAW MAGISTRATE EXPLAINS . PRINCIPLES (New Zealand Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, March 25. A statement he made at New Plymouth recently on traffic offences for which suspension of the driver’s licence must be imposed on conviction by the Court, except in very special circumstances, was repeated in the Stratford Magistrate’s Court yesterday by Mr W. C. Harley, S.M. He repeated it, he said, for the benefit of inotorists who still did not appreciate the position. He said that the law was amended just before Christmas, and it now said a man’s licence must be cancelled for a minimum of 28 days if he broke certain regulations, subject to the discretion of the Magistrate to remit the suspension in special circumstances. That was not exactly how the law was worded, but it was the way he read it. It meant that on conviction for any of the offences coming within the provisions of the amended law, the offender must lose his licence for 28 days, unless there were most unusual circumstances involved. Suspension applied on conviction for dangerous, reckless, negligent, or careless driving. Certain other offences could be declared within the provisions of the amended law by the Minister in the Gazette, and he had said that two others might be brought into the provision. Examples were overtaking within 300 ft of a blind corner or the brow of a hill, or driving round a blind corner on the wrong side of the road. •. There again, the Magistrate said, that was not the exact wording of the charges, but that was the meaning to a layman. Persons must therefore be prepared, if they broke these regulations, to have their drivers’ licences suspended for 28 days.