Linking new road traffic law to small-scale Court to decide on contentious matters

The President of the National Association of Road Traffic Safety, Mr. Mohamed Lazouni, has called for the need to link the new traffic law with a small-scale Court in order to enable the faulty driver to lodge an appeal and thereby to expound before the Judge his position in the event of being able to prove his innocence in a reported road traffic offense.

Mr Lazouni affirmed that this procedure should be followed before resorting to the deduction of points from the newly-introduced demerit points driving license, a new project, which was extolled by this road security expert, provided, he said, it is implemented in keeping with strict respect for its basic conditions.

As a recall, the law on the organization and safety of road traffic, recently adopted by the National People’s Assembly (NPA), provides for the introduction of the demerit points system and the tightening of penalties against offenders.

Amending and supplementing Law 01-14 of 2001, the main aim of the text is to stem the phenomenon of road accidents which has reached an alarming level in recent years in Algeria.

The new text introduces the points system to be managed by the Ministry of the Interior through a national driver’s license file to identify all road traffic offenses at the national level.

Under this brand-new system, a driver’s license is issued with a 24-point capital that will be reduced on each road traffic offense committed by the licensee.

The offender will also be subjected to a lump financial sanction and legal penalties as appropriate.