MANILA – The Land Transportation Office (LTO) will soon allow driver’s license that will expire in 5 years to double its current limit for drivers with clean records; while also introducing a demerit system to penalize recurrent and grave violators of road laws.
In a virtual presser on Wednesday, LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante said starting October 2021, drivers looking to renew their licenses will be granted a 10-year validity if they have no records of road traffic violations.
“Hopefully with this measure, mababawasan yung mga road crashes, traffic accidents na nagko-cause ng mga injuries, even pagkamatay (there will be less road crashes, traffic accidents that cause injuries or even deaths),” Galvante said.
In addition to providing an incentive to law-abiding drivers, he said a demerit system is also going to be rolled out to further discourage road violations.
In the new system, he said violations would be classified into three different categories — grave violations with five demerit points, less grave with three demerit points, and light violations with one demerit point.
Grave violations, he said, include using a motor vehicle in committing a crime, less grave violations include driving a public utility vehicle without a valid franchise or driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances, while light violations include first-time violation of some road laws.
“Then kung halimbawa yung mga violation na classified na less grave, pero paulit-ulit yung ginagawa, o naco-commit, could be classified also as grave violation (Then, for example, if a violation classified as less grave is committed repeatedly, it could be classified as a grave violation),” Galvante said.
These demerits, he said, would accumulate for the duration of the person’s driver’s license validity and may result in fines, penalties, or more severe sanctions.
“And hindi siya makakapag-drive hanggang hindi nasasagawa or nase-serve yung penalty. Which can range from suspension to even revocation of license (And he would not be able to drive until serving his penalty. And this could range from suspension to even revocation of the driver’s license),” Galvante said.
The 10-year license incentive and the demerits, he said, was rendered into law after the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act. No. 10930 was published back in June 2019.
“Itong batas na ito, noong ilabas, ito yung nag-formally authorize yung pagpapalawig ng lisensya (This law, when it came out, formally authorized the extension of validity of a license) from three years to five years,” Galvante said.