Traffic > High-risk drivers

• TRAFFIC
  • Speed surveillance »
    • Automatic speed surveillance
  • Drunken driving and drugs »
    • Drug abusers in traffic
    • Use of precision breathalyser
    • Consequences of drunken driving »
      • Driving ban
    • Drunken driver in traffic
    • Surveillance of drug use »
    • Intoxicants and the right to drive
  • Use of safety equipment
  • High-risk drivers »
    • Imposition of a driving ban due to repeat offences
    • Imposition of a driving ban due to gross negligence
  • Safety of waterborne traffic »
    • Watercraft and alcohol
    • Equipment
  • Driving licences

High-risk drivers

Drivers who repeatedly violate traffic regulations or display gross negligence regarding traffic safety through an individual act are a major safety risk to themselves and other road users. The police aim to take an increasingly firm stance against such drivers and, for their part, hasten the process of methods taken against them.

The Driving Licence Act states that holders of a driving licence must be banned from driving:

if they have at least four times within two years, or three times within one year, been guilty of the following when driving a motor vehicle:

1) offence under section 103 of the Road Traffic Act, with the exception of fixed-fine offences other than:

a) use of mobile phone while driving prohibited under section 24 a (2) of the Road Traffic Act

b) violation of speeding limit while driving a motor vehicle under section 25 (1,2) of the Road Traffic Act;

2) violation of the road traffic social legislation under section 105 a of the Road Traffic Act;

3) causing a traffic hazard under chapter 23, section 1 of the Criminal Code or flight from the scene of a traffic accident under section 11;

4) vehicle offence under section 96 (1) of the Vehicle Act;

5) violation of provisions concerning the qualifications of drivers laid out in section 24 of the Act on Professional Qualifications of Bus Drivers and Truck Drivers

6) detector equipment violation under section 1 of the Act on Prohibiting the Use of Equipment to Hinder Traffic Surveillance (546/1998);

7) offence during the transport of dangerous goods under section 19 (3) of the Act on Transport of Dangerous Goods (719/1994).

In contrast to subsection 1, holders of a short-term driving licence are banned from driving if they are found guilty of offences under paragraphs 1 to 7 of subsection 1 three times within two years, or twice within one year, of having obtained the short-term driving licence. The same applies to holders of a motorcycle driving licence without a car driving licence within two years of having obtained the motorcycle driving licence.

Driving bans are set by the police. The minimum length of a driving ban is one month and its maximum length is six months.



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