From this week, over 1.1 million NSW motorists, including professional drivers, will have a demerit point wiped from their licence to reward their safe driving.
This is part of a 12-month demerit point trial, which ended on January 16. As an incentive for drivers who remained offence-free, they are being rewarded with a demerit point removed.
“The NSW Government believes in encouraging safety and the demerit point trial is part of our carrot-and-stick approach to reward good driving behaviour as well as appropriately penalising poor behaviour on the roads,” said Minister for Roads John Graham.
The scheme gave 1.7 million motorists the chance to have a demerit point erased, with about 65 per cent of those to benefit.
Following the successful pilot, the trial has now been extended for another 12-months.
Anyone with a NSW unrestricted licence, including professional drivers, and a demerit point on their record, has another opportunity to have a point scrapped if they remain offence-free between January 17, 2024 and January 16, 2025.
Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison added, “Many people in regional NSW depend on driving for their livelihood or just to get around and do not have the public transport alternatives of other more populated areas. The reward of a demerit point being removed will be a meaningful one to many of those people.
“This trial is unapologetically about encouraging safer driving and that’s exactly what we need in the regions where we have a third of the state’s population but more than two-thirds of all road fatalities.”