Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Land Transport Act 1998

Driving offences involving drink or drugs, and penalties and procedures - Enforcement procedures for offences involving intoxication

71: Meaning of apparently younger than 20

You could also call this:

“How police decide if you look younger than 20”

When a police officer needs to decide if someone is younger than 20 for the purposes of section 69(1)(aa), they can do so in a few ways:

You might be considered younger than 20 if you show the officer a driver licence that says you’re under 20.

Even if you show a licence that says you’re 20 or older, the officer can still think you’re younger than 20 if they have a good reason to believe the licence belongs to someone else, isn’t real, or that you’re actually younger than 20.

If you don’t have a licence to show and can’t prove you’re 20 or older in another way, the officer can assume you’re younger than 20.

The officer doesn’t have to do anything else to check your age besides asking to see your driver licence.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM434832.

Previous

70A: Who has right to elect blood test after positive evidential breath test, or

"Who can ask for a blood test after failing a breath test for alcohol?"

Next

71A: Who must undergo first oral fluid test, or

"Who needs to take a drug test when driving a car"

Part 6 Driving offences involving drink or drugs, and penalties and procedures
Enforcement procedures for offences involving intoxication

71Meaning of apparently younger than 20

  1. For the purposes of section 69(1)(aa), an enforcement officer is entitled to regard a person as being younger than 20 if—

  2. the person produces a driver licence showing that the person is younger than 20; or
    1. the person produces a driver licence showing that the person is 20 or older, but the officer has good cause to suspect that the licence has been issued to some other person or is invalid or that the person who produced the licence is younger than 20; or
      1. the person fails to produce a driver licence and is unable to satisfy the officer by some other means that the person is 20 or older.

        1. An enforcement officer is not obliged to take any further steps, other than requiring the production of a driver licence, to ascertain the age of a person for the purposes of section 69.

        Compare
        Notes
        • Section 71(1): amended, on , by section 15 of the Land Transport Amendment Act (No 2) 2014 (2014 No 57).