Demerits And Blood Tests

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31188, 12 October 1966, Page 1

Demerits And Blood Tests

(N.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, October 11.

Provision for voluntary blood tests for suspected drunken drivers and a demerit points system for convicted traffic offenders are included in a Transport Amendment Bill introduced in Parliament today. The bill embodies all the proposals of the Parliamentary Road Safety Committee which require legislation.

The bill gives the totals of demerits at which disciplinary action will be taken, but the demerits to be awarded for each offence after conviction will be dealt with separately in regulations which have not yet been gazetted. With the consent of the arrested driver, a doctor may

take a sample of his blood. Part of the sample or a separate sample must be given to the motorist if he asks for it. A certificate by a Government analyst on the proportion of alcohol in the sample will be admissible in evidence.

In Court proceedings the following presumptions will apply:

(1) Fifty milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, or less: The defendant was not incapable of having proper control of a vehicle—until the contrary is proved.

(2) Between 50 and 100 milligrammes per 100 millilitres: No presumption that the defendant was or was not incapable—but that fact may be considered with other “relevant or admissible” evidence. (3) More than 100 milligrammes per 100 millilitres: The defendant was incapable until the contrary was proved. No evidence may be given

of the refusal of an arrested person to agree to the taking of a blood sample. The points system will take effect on April 1 next. An accumulation of 60 points will attract a letter from the Commissioner of Transport warning the driver of the consequences of having further points recorded against him; 75 points will bring a direction to interview a Transport Department senior traffic officer and 100 points or more within two years will lead to automatic suspension of a Hcence. If the points have been accumulated within a year, suspension will be for six months; and over a period of one and two years, three months. Points will be recorded by the commissioner on advice from courts “except where the defendants successfully appeal against conviction.”

A conviction for two or more offences arising from the same circumstances will mean the recording of the

highest number of points for any offence.

Drivers whose licences are suspended will have to send them to the commissioner for endorsement He will retain the licences during the suspension period. Where an offence involves obligatory disqualification and the court has for special reasons ordered that the offender be not disqualified, the maximum demerit points will be 60. In other cases, no single offence may bear more than 40 demerit points. To check on disqualified drivers, the Transport Department will establish a central register of all drivers’ licences, from a date yet to be set.

Because about 13 per cent of disqualified drivers have been caught driving, the maximum penalty for a second or subsequent guilty offence will become £2OO or six months’ imprisonment double the present penalty. For a first offence, the penalty will remain at £lOO or three months* imprisonment