One million New South Wales drivers who remained offence-free on the road over the past year are being rewarded with a demerit point scrubbed from their licence.
The results of the second year of the Labor Government’s demerit point return scheme show drivers in car-reliant areas of Western Sydney and regional NSW are the biggest beneficiaries this year.
The scheme provides a rare ‘carrot’ for people to drive safely as a counterbalance to the longstanding ‘stick’ of fines, double demerits and the loss of licence.
Almost 1.5 million drivers were eligible to have a demerit point removed when the second year of the trial started on January 17, with just over one million drivers (1,003,610) remaining offence-free.
There are now more than 420,000 drivers who have had a demerit point wiped two years running.
Topping the list of suburbs was Blacktown where more than 6000 drivers are getting a point wiped.
Castle Hill, Merrylands, Auburn, and Maroubra round out the top five suburbs, each with 4500 or more drivers to benefit.
Regional drivers were also rewarded in great numbers with motorists in Orange, Dubbo, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour notching up over 16,000 demerit points removed.
Motorists will begin to see their licence demerit tally updated from the second quarter of 2025.
As the scheme enters its third year, the NSW Government is changing the end date of the 12-month period, which will run to January 31 starting in 2026.
This means that drivers who are close to benefiting with a point will need to drive safely and offence-free throughout the critical month of January, which has in the past been marred by holiday crashes and deaths.
There are 1,483,926 drivers eligible to benefit if they stay within the rules until 31 January 2026.