Starting next month, drivers whose licenses or license plates have been confiscated because of unpaid fines will be allowed to retrieve them if they pay off their fines within five years, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) said yesterday.
Currently, motorists must pay the fines and retake a driving test to apply for a new license. Under the new regulation, motorists will be able to collect their licenses by paying the fine alone.
APPLICATION
The amendment to Article 65 of the Road Traffic Management and Punishment Law (道路交通管理處罰條例) will apply to motorists who failed to pay fines between June 30, 1996 and June 30, 2006.
The ministry has proposed to implement the change on Sept. 1, pending approval from the Executive Yuan, which is likely to approve the date, the ministry said.
Cases of unpaid fines from July 2006 or later will be turned over to the courts, and the motorists will be asked to pay the fines by court order.
Chi Wen-jong (祁文中), director of the ministry’s Department of Railways and Highways, said yesterday that more than 200,000 people nationwide stood to benefit from the amendment.
Chi said that while some drivers had lost their licenses for not paying fines of as little as NT$300, others had accumulated unpaid fines and penalties of NT$100,000.
TEST TAKERS
The department said that those whose licenses are revoked and who chose not to repay their fines could retake the driving test to apply for a new drivers’ license a year after their licenses or plates are taken away.
However, the Directorate General of Highways, the administrative authority in charge of issuing vehicle registrations and drivers’ licenses, said it would still require that all fines be paid before licenses or plates are granted.
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