Mauritius Police Get New Powers to Ban Drunk Drivers in Court

The Mauritian Cabinet approved the Road Traffic (Prescribed Forms) Regulations 2026 on Friday, introducing an official form that police officers must use when applying to a magistrate for a driving ban against a motorist suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The regulation operates under Section 123LA of the Road Traffic Act, the legal provision that empowers courts in Mauritius to disqualify drivers from holding or obtaining a driving licence. Until now, there was no standardised form in place for police to formally initiate that process. The new regulations fill that gap.

In practice, when a driver is stopped and found to be over the legal alcohol limit or under the influence of drugs, the attending police officer will now complete this prescribed form and submit it to a magistrate. The magistrate can then consider whether to impose a temporary or permanent ban on that individual driving on Mauritian roads.

The move is part of a broader effort by the Mauritian government to tighten road safety enforcement. Mauritius has long struggled with road fatalities, many of which involve alcohol. According to past reports from the National Road Safety Council, drink driving remains one of the leading causes of fatal accidents on the island.

What this means: This regulation does not create a new offence. Drink and drug driving were already illegal under the Road Traffic Act. What changes is the administrative process. Police now have a clear, legally prescribed tool to escalate cases directly to a magistrate and seek a driving ban, making it easier to remove dangerous drivers from the road quickly and consistently. For motorists, this signals that the consequences of drink or drug driving are becoming more procedurally robust, and that a court-ordered ban is now a more straightforward outcome following a police stop.

The change also matters for consistency across the island. With a standard form in place, there is less room for variation in how different police stations handle these cases. Magistrates will receive requests in a uniform format, which should streamline court proceedings.

Drivers caught over the legal blood alcohol limit in Mauritius already face fines and potential imprisonment under existing law. The addition of a formal disqualification pathway strengthens the deterrent effect and brings Mauritius closer in line with road safety frameworks seen in other Commonwealth jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom and Australia.

The regulations were approved by the Council of Ministers, the weekly Cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, and will now be published in the Government Gazette before coming into force.

Source: Le Defi Media