Higher penalty points for bad drivers

THE COMMUNICATIONS Ministry is preparing a bill that will increase penalty points and impose heftier fines for traffic violations.

If the new changes are passed into law, drivers could lose their licences for up to two years if they keep reoffending. 

In a meeting at the ministry– headed by Minister Efthymios Flourentzos with representatives of the Supreme Court, Police Traffic Department and the ministry’s Road Safety Unit – the final changes were decided.

The bill will now be sent to the Attorney-general to check the legal aspects, before being sent to the Cabinet for approval and then Parliament to be passed into law.

According to Georgios Morfakis, the head of the Road Safety Unit, the ministry hopes the bill will reach the House in the next few weeks.

“A bill was prepared regarding, among others, the points system that is applied in Cyprus,” Morfakis said yesterday. “But before it was promoted to parliament, the Communications Minister felt it should first be discussed with the judges to see their view on it, seeing that they are the ones who use the law’s provisions to impose the penalties, fines, points and so on,” he added.

According to Morfakis, the bill currently provides that if a motorist is caught drink driving, he or she will automatically be led to court and apart from a fine, they will also receive from four to eight points on their licences – previously, the court could impose between three and six points.

There will also be an increase in fines, as well as the length of time someone can lose their licence. Previously, the court could revoke someone’s licence for up to six months, whereas the new regulations increase this timeframe to 12 months. And if someone loses their licence for a second time, they are then subject to up to a two-year driving ban.

Depending on how parliament reacts to the bill, fines could even be doubled.

“In general lines, these are thoughts,” said Morfakis. “But of course it all depends on the Cabinet and parliament.”

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.