Model for reinstating driving licenses for citizens in Armenia to be  changed

ArmInfo. The model for reinstating the driving licenses of citizens who have been deprived of their driving license will be changed in Armenia.

At a meeting on May 27, the RA government approved amendments to the  Law on Ensuring Road Safety and a package of related laws.

As RA Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan noted in her  speech, the issue has been repeatedly raised by citizens, and RA  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan recently addressed it. In developing  the package, an attempt was made to achieve a balanced approach to  addressing the issue. Currently, as the minister recalled,  reinstatement of driving privileges is based on examinations,  regardless of whether the deprivation was imposed for the first time  or not. Meanwhile, Arpine Sargsyan continued, international  experience and research highlight the need to study driver behavior,  especially in the case of a first-time driver's license revocation,  when more targeted methods are used. For example, additional courses  and training for those revoked, the installation of storage bays in  existing vehicles, the establishment of a probationary period with  limited capabilities, and other procedures are used.

Accordingly, taking into account applicability and accessibility, it  is proposed to change the existing model of driver's license  reinstatement by introducing a one-year probationary period with a  very limited possibility of accruing six penalty points. This  approach will allow the state to rethink the logic of behavioral  change with minimal intervention, without compromising road safety,  and ensure driver rehabilitation by giving them the opportunity to  demonstrate behavioral change during a probationary period under  limited conditions.

The package of projects proposes changing the existing model of  driver's license reinstatement by introducing a more targeted  procedure. Thus, if an application is submitted within one year of  the expiration of the license suspension period, a driver's license  issued by competent authorities, suspended based on a valid police  deprivation order, may be reinstated once without passing a  qualifying exam, upon payment of the statutory state fee. A  probationary period of one year is established, with the second or  subsequent reinstatement occurring after passing the qualifying exam.  During the probationary period, 6 points are awarded instead of 13.  For a person on probation who has exhausted 6 penalty points, a state  fee of 50,000 drams is charged for the reinstatement of a driver's  license.

At the same time, a transitional provision is being established,  according to which persons deprived of the right to drive vehicles  after January 1, 2020, will be able to restore their driver's license  only once, by paying the appropriate state fee with the accrual of 6  penalty points instead of 13, subject to passing a probationary  period of 1 year from the date of restoration.