One million drivers lose demerit points for good behaviour
More than 1 million drivers across the state have been rewarded after remaining offence free over the last 12 months, by getting demerit points scrubbed from their licence.
NSW
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More than 1 million drivers across the state have been rewarded after remaining offence free over the last 12 months, by getting demerit points scrubbed from their licence.
From January 17 last year more than 1.5 million drivers were eligible for the NSW government’s demerit point return scheme, which rewards drivers who rack up no additional driving offences over a one-year period.
Yet nearly 500,000 of those drivers who would have been eligible for the return scheme fell short off the mark by reoffending.
The majority of drivers who managed to get a demerit point wiped this month came from car-reliant areas of Western Sydney and regional NSW. Blacktown drivers topped the list with more than 6000 drivers getting a point scrapped.
Motorists from Castle Hill, Merrylands, Auburn, and Maroubra continued to also be well-behaved on the roads, each with 4500 or more drivers to benefit.
Regional drivers were also doing the right thing, with motorists in Orange, Dubbo, Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour having more than 16,000 demerit points removed in total.
Additionally, results from the scheme found more than 420,000 drivers drove without incident for two years straight resulting in two demerit points wiped off their records.
The licence demerit tallies will be updated to include the new reductions from the second quarter of 2025.
The scheme will be continued into its third year, with all drivers who keep a clean infringement record between January 31 this year and next eligible for the demerit scrub.
Premier Chris Minns said the aim of the program was incentivising drivers to be safer on the roads.
“There is no acceptable road toll and that’s why we are using both the carrot and the stick approach to encouraging safer driving,” he said.
“Every one of the million drivers who succeeded over the past 12 months should be congratulated.”
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