(1) This section applies to a person who applies to the road transport authority for the issue or renewal of a learner or provisional licence if the person has incurred demerit points within the previous 3 years.
(2) If the person has not at any time held a licence of the kind applied for, the road transport authority may approve the application and issue a licence of that kind to the person despite the demerit points that the person has incurred in the previous 3 years.
(3) If the road transport authority issues a learner or provisional licence to the person under subsection (2), all demerit points recorded in the demerit points register against the person on the issue of the licence are taken to be deleted.
(4) If the person is the holder of the licence of the kind applied for, or has at any time held such a licence, the road transport authority may approve the application and issue a licence of that kind to the person, or renew the licence, despite the demerit points that the person has incurred in the previous 3 years.
(5) However, if the road transport authority issues a learner or provisional licence to the person under subsection (4), or renews the person's licence under the subsection, and the person has incurred 4 or more demerit points within the previous 3 years, the authority must serve a notice of licence suspension on the person under section 125 (Notice of licence suspension for demerit points incurred by learner and provisional licence holders).
(6) Subsection (3) does not prevent the road transport authority from keeping records of deleted demerit points.
(7) In this section:
previous 3 years means the 3 year period ending on the day when the person last committed an offence for which demerit points have been recorded against the person.