Drivers’ area

IOPD protects drivers and riders:

• From the effects of prosecution for ‘driving in other than a road like manner’, i.e. racing, track testing, stunts etc.
• From the extended powers of the Road Traffic Act
• Assurance of standards
• Clarity of relationships

The police have the right to confiscate and crush vehicles used in contravention of Road Traffic Act, For further information about how the need for authorisation came about and how it can be enforced, please click here.

IOPD licence-holding drivers or riders are provided with a defence when:

• Driving or riding a vehicle that is not road legal at a venue in a public place.
• Breaking the speed limit at a venue in a public place.
• Racing or practicing at such an event which when not authorised would be deemed unlawful.
• Riding or driving furiously, dangerously, inconsiderately and annoyingly.
• Loosing control of your vehicle.

IOPD Authorised Competition Licence

The purpose of an Authorised Competition Licence is to accredit a driver with specific skills and experience in vehicle handling under extreme or racing conditions and at speeds beyond the national speed limit.

Authorised Competition Licence Holders have status as a member of an elite disciplined ‘class of society’ (a legal term). It may permit the holder to overtake on the inside, ride or drive furiously and ‘show off’ that person’s skills and ability at controlling a mechanically propelled vehicle ‘on the edge’ of loosing control at an authorised off-highway venue. None of these actions are permitted by the DVLA licence or the Road Traffic Act without authorisation.

It acts as a defence in claims or charges (both legal and civil) of negligence and reckless irresponsibility should the driver be involved in a tragic accident and it formalises that all participants accept the risks of competing.

It acts as a recognised alternative system of controlling standards for off-highway events for those who do not or cannot hold a DVLA-issued licence and provides a system of policing standards of behaviour for all competitors.