The difference between being detained and having your driver's license revoked

What is the difference between temporary suspension of driving license and revocation of driving license?

Temporary suspension of a driving license is a measure to prevent the enforcement of a penalty decision or to verify the circumstances as the basis for a penalty decision.

The temporary suspension period of a driving license is not more than 7 working days from the date of suspension. In cases where the file must be transferred to the competent authority for penalty, the temporary suspension period is not more than 10 working days from the date of suspension.

The temporary suspension period may be extended for cases where an individual requests an explanation or where circumstances need to be verified, in which case the penalty decision is within 1 month from the date of the violation report but not more than 1 month from the date of suspension.

In cases where an individual requests an explanation or where circumstances need to be verified and are particularly serious, with many complex factors that require additional time for verification and evidence collection, the temporary suspension of the driving license may be extended but not more than 2 months from the date of suspension.

Generally, the temporary suspension period of a driving license is until the violator complies with the penalty decision within the specified time in the penalty record.

On the other hand, revocation of the driving license is an additional penalty or the main penalty for serious traffic safety violations.

The revocation period of a driving license is from 1 to 24 months from the effective date of the penalty decision.

Can you drive on the road while your driving license is temporarily suspended?

A driving license is one of the documents that a driver must carry (Image: Tran Thanh).

According to Article 125 of the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations 2012, supplemented by the amended Law on Administrative Violations 2020, the temporary suspension of a driving license does not affect the right to use the license.

If the deadline for resolving the violation stated in the violation report has passed, and the violator has not come to resolve the violation but continues to drive the vehicle or take the vehicle to participate in traffic, they will be fined as if they do not have the documents.

Therefore, it can be understood that during the period of temporary suspension of the driving license without reaching the deadline for resolving the administrative violation, the driver can still participate in traffic. The report recording that the traffic police are temporarily holding the driving license is still valid.

For an integrated driving license, if the driver violates an administrative violation with one of the two types of vehicles, motorcycle or car, and has the integrated driving license revoked, they can still drive the remaining type of vehicle.

Penalties for driving without a license

According to Circular 28/2024/TT-BCA effective from July 1, a driving license is one of the documents that a driver must carry when participating in traffic.

Regarding penalties, according to Decree 100/2019/NĐ-CP, as amended and supplemented by Decree 123/2021/NĐ-CP, individuals driving motorcycles with a cylinder capacity of less than 175cm3 and similar motorcycles without a driving license will be fined from 1 million to 2 million VND.

Individuals driving motorcycles with a cylinder capacity of 175cm3 or more, three-wheeled motorcycles without a driving license will be fined from 4 million to 5 million VND.

Meanwhile, individuals driving cars, trucks, and similar vehicles without a driving license will be fined from 10 million to 12 million VND.