Carriage of Driver's Licence

ACRS Policy Position

All drivers should be required to carry a valid driver's licence and produce it on demand.

Producing a driver's licence on demand should be a primary enforcement measure, ie Police may ask a driver to show a licence without any other infringement having first been committed.

Objective

To enhance effectiveness of provisional licence restrictions and licence suspension, and disqualification penalties.

Discussion

At present most jurisdictions except NSW give a period of grace in which to produce a driver's licence.  This gives scope for circumventing such requirements as provisional or probationary licence restrictions and licence suspension.   

In the case of suspension or disqualification, the penalty is intended to maintain respect for and effectiveness of socially approved sanctions for breaches of licence conditions.
If restrictions and penalties are able to be easily circumvented by non-production of a driver's licence, they lose their force.  The effectiveness of sanctions can only be maintained if drivers can be sure that they are likely to be asked to produce a photographic driver's licence on the spot with no option to produce it later.

It is suggested that there is a need for measures to identify persons who produce a licence that has been suspended or cancelled, to eliminate evasion by this means.  Technological means such as 'smart' licences with embedded chips that can be read and status determined instantly would be a means to this end.