Urging for a safe Christmas and New Year on NSW roads, almost 1.1 million drivers are on track to have a demerit point scrubbed from their license.
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The second year of the demerit point return scheme will end on January 16, 2025, giving motorists an extra incentive to remain offence-free at a time when people travel longer distances to reunite with family or go on holiday.
About 1.5 million drivers are eligible this year, with about 70 per cent still on course to benefit.
This comes at a critical time for road safety as this year NSW roads have seen 323 deaths so far, three more than at the same point in 2023.
Minister for roads John Graham says scrubbing demerits points from licenses is a personal incentive to drive safely, but the broader effect is when people make the right decisions to remain within the speed limit and the law.
“If you drive for a living then the reward for safe driving could be the difference between ongoing employment and losing your livelihood,” he says.
“People are used to the stick of enforcement and double demerits, but this is the carrot of reward for good behaviour.
“At a time when fatalities have been on the rise on our roads, we can all do something to make sure no more families are left grieving rather than celebrating Christmas and New Year.”
After TfNSW noted a positive reception among drivers to having this incentive as a counterbalance to fines, enforcement and double demerits, the demerit point scheme will continue in 2025.
Local government area broke down data to discover that the Central Coast benefitted the most, with 54,971 drivers having a demerit point removed from their licence, while five of the top ten LGAs were in Sydney’s west.
Western Sydney has a disproportionately higher number of people who rely on a driver’s licence for their livelihood, including taxi, rideshare and delivery drivers.
The demerit point scheme is open to eligible unrestricted and professional licence holders with active demerit points. To qualify for the reduction, they must maintain an offence-free record for 12 months.
The NSW Government encourages safe driving with the demerit point return along with these other measures:
- Seatbelt enforcement by the existing mobile phone camera detection network
- Removing a loophole to force all motorists driving on a foreign licence to convert to a NSW licence within six months
- Doubling roadside enforcement sites used for mobile speed cameras, with the addition of 2,700 new locations where a camera can be deployed. Enforcement hours will remain the same
- A trial of average speed cameras for light vehicles
- Hosting the state’s first Road Safety Forum of international and local experts
- Signing the National Road Safety Data Agreement with the Commonwealth
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