Driving offences and penalties: disqualifications and suspensions

This factsheet outlines some of the traffic enforcement measures used to help make our roads safer. It explains demerit points, licence suspensions, disqualifications, and how to reinstate your licence after your suspension or disqualification ends.

Alcohol and drug affected driving

Alcohol and drug affected driving are serious offences and carry tough penalties, especially for repeat offenders. If you are convicted of a third or subsequent offence, you will be disqualified from driving for more than one year and either fined up to $6,000 or imprisoned up to two years.

If you cause injury or death when driving carelessly while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, you will be disqualified and either fined up to $10,000 or sentenced to prison. Where a breath or blood test shows you were over the legal limit or shows evidence of the use of a controlled drug, you will be disqualified and either fined up to $20,000 or imprisoned up to five years.

Speeding

Speeding fines increase progressively from $30 for speeds less than 10km/h over the limit, to $630 for speeds up to 50km/h over the limit. In addition to a fine, you will also incur demerit points. See the demerit points section for more information.

If your speed is more than 50km/h over the limit you can be charged with careless, dangerous or reckless driving, and at more than 40km/h above the speed limit you can also get a 28-day licence suspension. See the 28-day roadside licence suspension section for more information.

Demerit points

Demerit points are given for all speeding infringements (except those recorded by speed camera), some traffic offences and for breaching licence conditions, eg a learner driver unaccompanied by a supervisor or a restricted driver carrying unauthorised passengers.

Points can also be allocated in conjunction with a court disqualification where the court chooses to disqualify a person and also give them demerit points. A full list of demerit points, is available.

Demerit points remain active on your licence record for a period of two years from the date of the offence. However, if the court disqualifies you for a period of six months or more, any active demerit points recorded on your licence record at the time will be cancelled and will no longer contribute to your active demerit point total.

If you accumulate 100 or more active demerit points within any two-year period, your licence will be suspended for a period of three months and you will not be entitled to drive. The suspension period begins as soon as the demerit suspension notice is served on you by the NZTA, the police or an NZTA authorised agent.

At the end of your demerit suspension, you cannot resume driving until you have reinstated your licence. See the reinstating your licence section for more information.

Disqualifications and suspensions

If your licence has been suspended or you've been disqualified from driving by the courts, you're not entitled to hold your licence and must surrender it to the court, the police, the NZTA or an authorised NZTA agent. If you're caught driving while disqualified or suspended, the vehicle you're driving will be seized and impounded for 28 days. It doesn't matter whether it's your vehicle or not. For more information see factsheet 63 Impoundment of your vehicle at the roadside.

Driving while disqualified or contrary to the conditions of a limited licence carries a maximum fine for a third or subsequent offence of $6000, and the period of imprisonment is up to two years. When deciding the penalty, the court may take account of aggravating factors, such as repeat offending and the degree of intoxication of drink-drivers.

At the end of your suspension or disqualification, you cannot resume driving until you have reinstated your driver licence. See the reinstating your licence section for more information.

Limited licences

If the disqualification or suspension will cause extreme hardship to you or undue hardship to another person, you might be able to get a limited licence.

A lawyer can assist you to apply for a court order authorising you to obtain a limited licence. They'll get the documents ready and present them to the court. If the court order is granted, then you must obtain a limited licence from the NZTA before you can drive. For more information see factsheet 50 Limited licences.

Reinstating your licence

At the end of your disqualification or suspension (other than 28-day roadside suspensions) you will remain unlicensed and are not entitled to drive until you have applied at a driver licensing agent to have your licence reinstated and a new licence has been issued. Any licence card held by you at the time of your suspension or disqualification will have been permanently cancelled.

You will need to visit an NZTA driver licensing agent and apply to have your licence reinstated. You will need to:

• complete an Application for reissue of driver licence form (DL7)
• provide acceptable evidence of identity and evidence of address (see factsheet 20 Identification for driver licensing)
• prove your eyesight meets the required standard
• have your image and signature captured
• pay the reinstatement fee of $66.40.

If you were disqualified for more than 12 months, you will also need to resit the appropriate test/s (and pay the test fee/s) to regain the licence class/es you held previously. See the Disqualifications exceeding one year section for more information.

If you were indefinitely disqualified after convictions for repeat driving offences involving drugs or alcohol, you will be required to prove you've dealt with your drug or alcohol problem before reinstating your licence. See the Indefinite disqualifications for repeat drug or alcohol offences section for more information.

If you drive after your suspension or disqualification has ended, but before your licence has been reinstated, you could be fined and forbidden to drive. If you then continue to drive without reinstating your licence, you could be charged with driving while forbidden and the vehicle impounded. For more information see Factsheet 63 Impoundment of your vehicle at the roadside.

28-day roadside licence suspension

If you're caught committing a serious driving offence that puts the lives of other road users at risk, the police can suspend your licence, on the spot, for 28 days. This is called roadside licence suspension, but it can happen anywhere:

• At the side of the road if you're pulled over for speeding at more than 40km/h above the permanent speed limit (does not apply to speed camera offences).
• Wherever you are if a breath test you have provided shows you have more than 650 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, or a blood sample shows you had more than 130 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood when you were tested.
• If you have been convicted of specified breath or blood alcohol offences in the past four years, being anywhere over the limit is enough for your licence to be suspended.
• Wherever you are if you have failed or refused to take a blood test for excess blood alcohol, or refused to supply a blood sample.

The police can apply to the court to extend the original 28-day suspension period up to three times. For more information, see factsheet 62 Suspension of your licence at the roadside.

Disqualifications exceeding one year

If you were disqualified from driving for a continuous period of more than one year, you will also have to requalify for your licence class when you apply to have your licence reinstated.

If you had a car licence (class 1) or motorcycle licence (class 6), you'll have to pass the appropriate theory and practical tests (and pay the appropriate fees) to get your licence back. If you had both a car and a motorcycle licence, and you want both again, you'll have to sit a theory and a practical test for each of them.

If you had a heavy vehicle licence (classes 2–5), you only sit theory and practical tests (and pay the appropriate fees) or complete an approved course for the highest class to regain all the lower licence classes previously held. For example, the holder of a class 5 licence won't have to sit the tests for classes 1–4, just the theory and practical tests for class 5. You may also be required to supply a medical certificate.

Indefinite disqualifications for repeat drug or alcohol offences

If you were indefinitely disqualified (under section 65 of the Land Transport Act 1998 or section 30A of the Transport Act 1962) for repeat driving offences involving drugs or alcohol, you'll have to prove that you've dealt with your drug or alcohol problem before you can apply to have your disqualification ended.

Step 1: Go to an approved alcohol/drug assessment centre

The NZTA's driver licensing contact centre (0800 822 422) can tell you where your nearest approved alcohol or drug assessment centre is. If you received a letter from the NZTA about getting your licence back, take it with you to the centre.

The centre will assess you and write a report on how well you are managing your drug or alcohol problem. The centre will send a copy of the report to the NZTA.

Step 2: Apply to get your indefinite disqualification ended

Write to Driver Licensing, NZ Transport Agency, Private Bag 11777, Palmerston North 4442. Say in the letter that you're asking for your indefinite disqualification to end. The NZTA will look at your letter and the report from the alcohol or drug assessment centre, along with any other information that might be relevant.

If you have served a minimum disqualification period of one year and one day, and the NZTA is satisfied that you're managing your alcohol or drug problems and fit to hold a licence again, you'll be sent a letter confirming this, and telling you how to reinstate your driver licence.

Step 3: Apply for your licence to be reinstated and sit and pass the driver licence tests

Provided there are no other disqualifications or suspensions in effect, you can apply to have your licence reinstated. See the reinstating your licence section for more information.

28-day roadside vehicle impoundment

Your vehicle will be impounded if you're caught driving when:

• you are disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver licence
• your driver licence is suspended or revoked
• you don't hold (or have never held) a licence, or your licence has expired, and you have been forbidden to drive by a police officer until you have obtained or renewed your driver licence
• you have to reinstate your licence and have been forbidden to drive by a police officer until you have done so
• you've been caught driving in an unauthorised race or other 'boy racer' activities
• your vehicle is being used in a transport service and the transport service operator has been disqualified from holding or obtaining a transport service licence
• your vehicle is being used in a transport service and the transport service licence is suspended or revoked
• your vehicle is being used in a transport service and the transport service operator doesn't hold a transport service licence and has been forbidden to operate.

If a vehicle you're driving is impounded, the police will call for a tow truck to take it to a storage facility. At the end of the 28-day impoundment period, you'll have to pay the towing and storage fees before getting the vehicle back.

For more information, see Factsheet 63 Impoundment of your vehicle at the roadside.

What if I only hold an overseas driver licence?

If you were suspended or disqualified from driving and you only hold an overseas driver licence, you are not allowed to drive again in New Zealand until you have obtained a New Zealand driver licence.

You cannot apply for a New Zealand licence until your suspension or disqualification has ended. For more information, see Factsheet 72 Overseas driver licences: converting to a New Zealand licence.

What if I don't want to reinstate my licence?

If you don't want to apply for your indefinite disqualification to end, or you don't want to reinstate or sit your driver licence tests, don't drive.

If you're caught driving while any disqualification is still in place, the vehicle you're driving will be seized and impounded for 28 days. If you're caught driving at the end of your disqualification or suspension, but before you have reinstated your licence, you will be forbidden to drive and may be fined. If you continue to drive and are caught again, the vehicle you're driving will be impounded. It doesn't matter if it's your car or not.

The fines for driving while disqualified are high – after the third time you're caught driving while disqualified you could get up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $6000.

Learner and restricted licences

Any period of disqualification or suspension is not included in any qualifying time required before you can move to the next stage of your driver licence.

General driving offences

Infringement fees range from $40 for parking offences to $10,000 for overloading offences. The infringement fee for not wearing a seat belt is $150.

Court imposed maximum fines for general driving offences range from $2000 for driving an unsafe vehicle, to up to $20,000 for reckless or dangerous driving causing injury or death to another person, or for failing to stop after a crash where someone is killed.

For more information, see offences and penalties.

Where you can find out more

• Email us: info@nzta.govt.nz.
• Call our contact centre: 0800 822 422.
• Write to us: NZ Transport Agency, Palmerston North Office, Private Bag 4442, Palmerston North 11777.