The information reported about amendments to the Road Traffic Law that provide for the measure to revoke driver’s licence from motorists who commit exceed the permitted speed limit by more than 31 km/h is inaccurate – the amendments remain a project and will not apply to everyone who exceeds this speed limit, Latvian State Police explain.
According to law enforcers, this information has caused many different opinions from residents, including concerns about driver’s licence being taken away from every driver that exceeds the speed limit. However, the amendment project mentions that this would be an additional measure that would apply only to people who repeat offences.
This means that if officers of State Police who pull over speed limit violators will look into the motorist’s background and the situation. Depending on the location where the violation took place, appropriate measures and punishments will be applied.
Amendments to the Road Traffic Law in regards to exceeding permitted speed limit of 31 km/h suggest revoking a person’s driver’s licence for a period of up to three months.
At the same time, State Police stress that even though the law already lists liability for motorists who exceed permitted speed limits above 30 km/h, statistical information indicates it is insufficient to change the behaviour of motorists who commit repeat offences.
Police also stress that the Law on Administrative Liability excludes the application of a penalty depending on whether it is a first or repeated offence. Because of this, State Police have reviewed the existing penalty system and developed a legislative project that provides for increasing sanctions and individualisation of penalties for repeated offences.
In 2020 State Police ordered a study about repeated offences committed in road traffic. The study included data for 592 people. These people were caught exceeding speed limits at least twice between the 1st of June 2019 and the 31st of May 2020.
In 2021 another study was done for the previously surveyed 592 people to see if their behaviour changed for the better.
Over the course of the year 11% or 64 people from the aforementioned group had their driver’s licence revoked for violating speed limits.
In total, 330 of 592 continued violating road traffic restrictions that year.
State Police concluded after the study that 20% of 592 people did not change their habits, and still continue violating safe speed limits.
State Police remind that motorists from the studied group were involved in 67 road accidents.