Driving licence, short suspension for those with less than 20 points

One of the most significant innovations among those passed by the House last week (and now under consideration by the Senate) in the Highway Code is the short suspension of driving licences, provided for in Article 218-ter to create a progressive sanctioning response to certain violations of a certain gravity. It concerns those who have fewer than 20 driving licence points, i.e. have committed at least one curtailment violation and have not yet recovered the lost points. Please note: the short suspension will only apply to those who are identified at the time of the violation. Thus, the many offenders who are not stopped immediately avoid it. Another condition is that the offence is among the 23 listed in the tab below.

The duration of the short suspension varies according to the licence points of the person concerned: seven days if he has between 10 and 19, 15 days if he has less than 10. If the offence is followed by an accident (even without involving other users or vehicles), the period is doubled.

The procedure is similar to that of 'ordinary' suspension. The ascertaining officer will directly withdraw the driving licence, issuing a provisional driving permit in the report, in order to allow the vehicle to reach home or a place of shelter. Then there will be an entry in the National Register of Licence Offenders, by the prosecuting office, which will hold the licence for the entire period of suspension. Much changes if the offence is the failure or irregular use of restraint systems (Article 172(10) and (11)): the officer, within five days of the end of the short suspension, will have to forward the withdrawn licence to the competent Prefecture, which will decide on the 'ordinary' suspension to be added, seamlessly, to the short one already served. This derogates from the general principle of Para. 9 of Article 218-ter, according to which the short suspension does not exist for violations already punished with ordinary suspension in the case of infra-biennial recidivism when it reaches the second violation in the two-year period.

You can ask for a specific driving permit of up to three hours a day, which can only be issued if there is no accident, for work reasons (if it is impossible or very burdensome to get to work by public transport) or to assist the disabled (Article 33, Law 104/92).

In the case of unauthorised circulation during the short suspension, heavy penalties: from 2,046 to 8,186 euros, revocation of the licence and administrative detention of the vehicle, which turns into confiscation if the violation is repeated. Attention: there is also unauthorised circulation when driving with a permit but outside the limits it imposes.