Here in the US, it’s pretty typical for traffic convictions such as speeding to carry consequences in terms of the offender’s driver’s license. Typically, there is a “point” system that operates on a merit/demerit system. Offenses may carry demerit points, for example speeding up to 10 mph above the limit might carry 3 points, speeding 10 to 20 mph above the limit might carry 5 points, and DUI might carry 9 points. Merit points can sometimes be earned by conviction-free stretches of time as well as attending safe driver school. If your “balance” goes below a certain negative value (e.g. more than -6), then your license may be suspended. With certain offenses such as DUI, the court may be able to suspend your license just for that offense as a direct punishment, event if your point balance would have made it OK.
Do Driver’s License (DL) points and other such consequences apply to offenses committed with a non-motor vehicle? For example, if I rack up too many bicycle offenses, can my DL be suspended, meaning that while I still can ride a bicycle, I cannot drive a car? At first glance that seems absurd, but I’m not aware of any legal framework for banning someone from riding a bike. What happens if you don’t have a DL? For example, if an Amish person racks up too many “fail to obey traffic signal” offenses in their horse and buggy by running red lights and failing to stop at stop signs, do they just keep racking up “points” that just stay in suspense such that if they ever applied for a DL, it would be instantly suspended because all those bad driver points would suddenly attach to it?
I was warned a couple of times on my bicycle* and the cops threatened me with points against my driver’s license (I do have one). But I’m thinking they couldn’t actually do that, since they don’t require you to have a license of any kind to ride a bicycle.
On the other hand, in my state (Colorado) they can take away your driver’s license if you don’t pay your child support, which also has nothing to do with driving. So who knows. It sure wouldn’t be fair, but life isn’t always fair.
*Once for exceeding the speed limit, if you can believe that. I didn’t believe it. The speed limit was 20 mph. Not having a thing to measure it with, I couldn’t prove I wasn’t going that fast, but I don’t think I was. The other times were for running stop signs.
Here in South Australia the answer is a very clear yes. Traffic offences don’t have to involve a car, and the points do go against your drivers license, and you can, and people do, lose (or rather, have suspended) their drivers licence for non-driving offences.
Back in my misspent youth a knew a few people who found themselves on the wrong end of a cycling whilst drunk charge. It was invariably the points on their drivers license that upset them the most.
And what happens if you don’t have a DL? Do the bad driving points just poof into nothingness, or do the stay in suspense on your “record” to attach to a future DL? If this does apply, do points eventually expire even if you don’t apply for a DL (e.g. a first time applicant in 2012 wouldn’t be saddled with “bad driver” points they got in 1995 but that didn’t affect them because they didn’t have a DL back then), or could a late-in-life applicant be saddled by all those old offenses?
E.g.:
John: “Here’s my driver’s license application. This is my first time applying.”
DMV Clerk: “You passed all your driver’s tests, but I’m afraid that your license will start out suspended.”
John: “Why?”
DMV Clerk: "It’s those bicycle and horseback riding tickets you got last year. You got a grand total of 10 bad driver points from those. New drivers start with 0 good points and a -8 point balance results in a six month suspension.
I’m not sure if it was actually put into effect, but there was talk in Quebec a couple years ago about points on the DL for jaywalking. This means, among other things, that car insurance goes up. The irony is that it is often safer to jaywalk than to cross at corners where you have four directions to contend with. Also no driver in Quebec has ever been known to stop at a zebra crossing (they were introduced without the slightest explanation maybe 25 years ago).
In 1993 in Downtown San Jose, I parked in a loading zone to deliver a pizza to a hotel. Normally, parking in a loading zone is (was?) fine as long as it is outside of the times listed on the sign, so I thought I was OK. There was a cop parked up the block, but I didn’t pay him any mind since I thought I was within the law.
It turns out this particular loading zone was off-limits outside of those times. After leaving the hotel, getting in my car and driving off, the cop immediately pulled me over. He explained that I wasn’t supposed to park there, so I would have been fine with getting a parking ticket.
Instead, he gave me a moving violation, something about failure to obey a sign. I went to court, and the judge didn’t know what to make of it, so he decided I was guilty. (So much for “innocent until…”)
So, while it did involve a motor vehicle, I got a moving violation, points on my record, and a higher insurance premium, for something that should have been a parking ticket.
Interesting responses. It pretty much seems the answer is yes, you can get bad driver points that affect your driver’s license for traffic offenses not committed using a motor vehicle.
Is there a provision in any jurisdiction to revoke a person’s right to ride a bicycle, ride a horse, or drive a horse and buggy/stagecoach/wagon/etc.? E.g. can Amish people just run as many red lights as they want to in their buggies without having to worry about not being able to drive anymore?