17Power of court to order disqualification

17 Power of court to order disqualification

(1)  [Section 17 Subsection (1) amended by No. 10 of 2008, s. 6, Applied:25 Aug 2008] [Section 17 Subsection (1) substituted by No. 69 of 2001, s. 7, Applied:10 Dec 2001] Subject to sections 19B and 19E , a court that convicts a person of a traffic offence may disqualify the person from driving for a period specified by the court.

(2)  Subject to subsection (3) , if a disqualification is imposed under this or any other Act against the holder of an Australian driver licence, the court must either suspend or cancel the licence as follows:

(a) [Section 17 Subsection (2) amended by No. 69 of 2001, s. 7, Applied:10 Dec 2001] if the disqualification is for 4 months or less, the licence is to be suspended;

(b) [Section 17 Subsection (2) amended by No. 69 of 2001, s. 7, Applied:10 Dec 2001] if the disqualification is for more than 4 months, the licence is to be cancelled.

(3)  The court may, instead of cancelling a licence that is liable to cancellation under subsection (2) , suspend the licence if the court thinks there is good reason to do so.

(4)  A disqualification imposed by a court under this or any other Act, and a related licence suspension or cancellation imposed by the court, takes effect as follows:

(a) if the convicted person is not subject to a current period of disqualification, licence suspension or ineligibility to hold a driver licence as a result of the accumulation of demerit points – at the time of the order or a later time fixed by the court;

(b) if the convicted person is subject to a current period of disqualification, licence suspension or ineligibility to hold a driver licence as a result of the accumulation of demerit points – at the end of that period unless the court fixes an earlier or later time.

(5)  If a disqualification is imposed under this or any other Act on a person who is not present in court when the disqualification is imposed, the court must postpone the commencement of the disqualification (and the related licence suspension or cancellation) for a specified period of at least 10 days and, in that event, the disqualification (and the related licence suspension or cancellation) commences –