`Totting up’ system that can lead to a driving ban starts Monday
By a Staff Reporter
MONDAY marks the start of much tougher penalties on offending drivers in Cyprus, with the long awaited penalty points system — that can lead to loss of licence — finally coming into force.
Drivers not abiding by traffic regulations face both fines and penalty points which will be noted on their driving licences. Under the `totting up’ procedure, drivers whose penalty points reach 12 face being suspended from driving or having their licence revoked by a court.
The new law, approved since June, goes into force as of Monday, January 1, and it’s hoped that the crackdown will prove a major success in the campaign to cut the island’s excessively high road deaths.
The point system, widely in use in Europe and the United States, will cover a wide range of traffic violations. Offending drivers will be fined and police will have the authority to impose penalty points.
Explained Traffic Police Chief George Voutounos: “While all offences carry penalty points, the fines will be payable at either police precincts or the road transport department (in each district) depending on the nature of the offence.”
Police will have the authority to impose penalty points for such common driving offences as speeding or `shooting’ traffic lights, and on a motorcyclist not wearing a helmet. The police will not themselves impose penalties for serious violations such as reckless driving or causing a road death since these are penal offences to be tried in court, which then has the power to impose maximum penalty points.
Voutounos told the Cyprus Mail that new driving licences would include a special section indicating traffic violations and the corresponding penalty points. The new licenses will be issued by the Road Transport Department to future “first-time offenders”. Anyone found trying to conceal the number of penalty points is liable to a fine of up to £1,000 and/or one year’s imprisonment.
Voutounos said there were minimum and maximum penalties and police could only impose the minimum. For example, for speeding up to 25 per cent above the limit a driver could be saddled with two penalty points, but if the case goes to court he or she could end up with the maximum four points.
So, if an offending driver chooses to contest a fine in court — and the penalty points — ordered by traffic police, he or she runs a `double or nothing’ risk since the court could impose the maximum penalty.
The only good news for offending drivers is that, as in other countries, road traffic violations, and their corresponding penalty points, are regarded as `spent’ three years after the date on which an offence was committed.
According to Voutounos, the changes to the legislation are “long-awaited, since Cyprus currently ranks third in Europe in the number of road deaths per head of population”.
Among the offences incurring penalty points are:
Breaking the speed limit by 25 to 50 per cent — minimum number of penalty points 2, maximum 4.
Breaking the speed limit by 50 per cent or more – min 3, max 6.
Thoughtless or dangerous driving – min 3, max: 6
Careless driving – min 2, max: 4.
Driving under the influence of alcohol – min 3, max 6.
Ignoring traffic light signals – min 2, max 4.
Causing death due to unreasonable, thoughtless or dangerous action – min 5, max 10.
Hit and run, without providing help – min 5, max 10.
Motorcyclists not wearing a helmet – min 1, max 2 in built-up areas; min 2, max 4 outside built-up areas.
Not wearing seatbelt outside built-up areas – min 2, max 4.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
