Implementing this principle, regulations were introduced providing for new cases of mandatory retention of a driving licence in the event of:

  • driving a vehicle at a speed exceeding the permitted limit by more than 50 km/h in a built-up area
  • carrying more passengers than the number of seats specified in the vehicle registration certificate (temporary permit), or resulting from the vehicle’s design purpose if it is not subject to registration.

A driving licence is retained immediately, during a roadside inspection. According to data collected by the police since 18 May this year, 9,549 drivers have already lost their driving licences for three months for exceeding the permitted speed by more than 50 km/h in a built-up area, while 153 people lost theirs for so-called overloading.

The largest number of driving licences for exceeding the permitted speed in a built-up area by more than 50 km/h—1,622—were taken from road traffic offenders by officers in the capital, followed by those in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (1,041), Mazowieckie Voivodeship (854) and Greater Poland (840).

It is worth remembering that if a person drives a vehicle despite an administrative decision to retain their driving licence, the period of administrative retention will be extended to six months.

A total of 158 people decided to get behind the wheel despite having their driving entitlements temporarily suspended, while nine people ignored even the extended retention period. Under the new legal framework, the starosta issues an administrative decision withdrawing these people’s entitlement to drive, which means, on the one hand, that they must obtain a driving licence from scratch, and on the other that any further disregard will constitute the offence specified in Article 180a of the Criminal Code.

The same offence (Article 180a of the Criminal Code) is also committed by other drivers whose entitlement to drive was previously withdrawn by an administrative decision, but who nevertheless decided to drive a vehicle. So far, as many as 3,678 such people have been detained.

Police officers also detained 6,914 people who drove vehicles despite never having held the necessary entitlements. It is worth noting here that the new regulations introduced new options for dealing with drivers who repeatedly drive despite lacking the required entitlements. Under the new rules, based on Article 94 §3 of the Code of Petty Offences, the police may apply to the court for a driving ban to be imposed on these people.

As a result, an offender who later applies for entitlement to drive will be able to obtain it only after the applicable ban has expired, and the ban may last as long as three years.

In more than 2,500 cases, the police applied to the court for such a ban. In that situation, a person who fails to comply with a driving ban commits the offence specified in Article 244 of the Criminal Code. The improvement in road safety recorded during the first eight months of this year is largely the result of the legal changes introduced and the police’s significant contribution to implementing these procedures in practice.

Detailed information on the legal changes is available on the website of the Police Headquarters.

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