Double demerits will be in full force in select states and territories this long weekend. Stuff up just once and you could lose your licence. Here’s where double demerits apply and the type of offences that you need to avoid.
Long weekends are a bad time for road fatalities – so police will be cracking down on motorists with double demerit points over the Labour Day weekend. The double demerit system was implemented in a bid to encourage drivers to obey road rules during busy traffic periods.
As the name of the scheme implies, demerit points are doubled during this period for the offences of speeding, illegal use of mobile phones, not wearing a seatbelt and riding without a motorcycle helmet. Other traffic offences can also incur additional penalties during this period.
Currently, the double demerit system is practised in Queensland, Western Australia, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Here’s what each state’s road authorities have planned over the Labor Day weekend.
NSW
Double demerits start at 12.01am on Friday 4 October and conclude at 11.59pm on Monday 7 October 2018.
Speeding, seatbelt, mobile phone and motorcycle helmet offences will all cop double the usual point penalty.
ACT
The Labour Day holiday weekend is a Double Demerit Point period in the ACT.
If you commit speeding, seatbelt/helmet, mobile phone and certain other offences during the period Friday 5 October to Monday 6 October, Double Demerit Points will apply.
If you commit other traffic offences which have demerit points, one extra demerit point will be added.
Queensland:
In Queensland, double demerit points are applied to persons who repeatedly commit specific offences that increase the road safety risk to the person themselves or other road users. Double demerit points apply all year round for these repeat offenders as a way of discouraging dangerous driving behaviours on a continuing basis.
Double demerit points are allocated for certain second or subsequent driver seatbelt offences, motorbike helmet offences and offences for speeding more than 20km/h over the speed limit, that are committed within 1 year of a previous offence. Double demerit points also apply for second or subsequent mobile phone offences that are committed by drivers within 1 year of an earlier offence.
A person does not necessarily have to commit the same type of offence a second or subsequent time to be allocated double demerit points. A second or subsequent offence only needs to be within the same offence group for the person to accumulate double demerit points.
Western Australia:
WA drivers are off the hook this weekend – the state celebrates Labour Day in March. (On the flip side, they all have to go to work on Monday.)
So there you have it.ACT and NSW drivers need to be extra vigilant on the road this weekend. Drive safe, guys!
Comments
4 responses to “How To Avoid Copping Double Demerits This Long Weekend”
We wouldn’t have copied and pasted this from an earlier article by any chance? 🙂
Personally, I think more police presence would be far more effective than speed cameras.
We did not copy the police statements from a previous article. (But the police might have haha.)
WA’s long weekend was last week, or should i just not turn up on Monday?
Best thing about all this is it does not affect you if you dont break the law.
For some, it seems like that’s beyond them and they scream “REVENUE RAISING!”