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Busby v. State2/1/2002
international driving permit on the roads of this state.
Busby's alternative argument that even though his prior license revocation was a sufficient reason for the State of Alaska to withdraw his right to use his international driving permit, the State was obliged to initiate a new judicial or administrative proceeding for this purpose.
Article 24, Section 5 of the Convention on Road Traffic declares that, under certain circumstances, a signatory country need not honor its promise to allow all drivers possessing international driving permits to use its roads. A signatory country can "withdraw [a driver's] right to use [an international driving permit]" within its territory if the driver has committed a driving offense that would entail loss of driving privileges if committed by a resident of that country.
Busby points out that, even if we assume that his pre-existing license revocation provided the State of Alaska with a valid reason to withdraw his right to use the international driving permit, the State never initiated official action against Busby's permit. Busby argues that even though Article 24, Section 5 authorizes a signatory country to withdraw a person's right to use an international driving permit, the permit remains in force until the country initiates official proceedings for this purpose.
Again, we find that Busby's interpretation of the Convention is untenable because it leads to results that are at odds with the objectives and purpose of the Convention on Road Traffic. According to Busby's interpretation of the Convention, after a person's driver's license is revoked by one signatory country, the person would be entitled to move to a new country, obtain an international driving permit under the laws of that country, and then resume driving in the first country unless and until the first country realized what had occurred and initiated judicial or administrative proceedings to withdraw the person's right to use the permit. Under this interpretation, drivers could obtain new international driving permits and then play a game of "cat and mouse" with the countries that had previously suspended their licenses, hoping that their renewed driving within those countries would remain undiscovered. If the signatory countries had thought that the Convention led to these results, they would not have signed the Convention.
Busby nevertheless argues that his interpretation is supported by the wording of Article 24, Section 5. As explained above, Article 24, Section 5 contains two sentences. The first sentence declares that, under certain circumstances, a signatory country need not honor its promise to allow all drivers possessing international driving permits to use its roads. A signatory country can "withdraw [a driver's] right to use [an international driving permit]" within its territory if the driver has committed a driving offense that would entail loss of driving privileges if committed by a resident of that country. The second sentence of Section 5 adds that a country withdrawing the use of an international driving permit "may withdraw and retain the permit" until the period of revocation expires or the driver leaves its territory, whichever occurs first.
This double use of the word "withdraw" creates some ambiguity in the English text of the Convention on Road Traffic, and this ambiguity arguably provides some support for Busby's contention that his international driving permit remained in force until the State of Alaska took some positive action to "withdraw and retain it". However, the Convention on Road Traffic was issued in both English and French (the two official languages of the United Nations), and the French text of Article
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