Habitual offenders face driving bans under ‘demerit’ scheme
Drivers of vehicles who regularly break the road rules will face suspensions and the prospect of restarting the lengthy process of getting a licence all over again once ‘demerit points’ are introduced next year.
Committing an offence will mean that the driving licence holder will be allocated demerit points for that particular offence under the Motor Traffic Act.
The system had been in the making for more than a decade.
The State Minister for Transport, Lasantha Alagiyawanna told the Sunday Times that a licence will contain 24 points while there are six categories of offences under the demerit point system.
‘Demerit points’ means the points allotted for traffic offences under the Motor Traffic Act as well to any other penalties applicable.
Once an offending driver reaches 24 points, the licence will be suspended and it will have to be reapplied for, starting with the written exam and the trials.
“We could not do it for the last 10 years unfortunately due to several issues,” Mr Alagiyawanna said. He is looking forward to issuing a gazette notice, followed by a Cabinet decision next week. “We will need to implement this very soon as we have to reduce the number of fatal road accidents.’’
A key factor will be information technology infrastructure.
State Minister for Technology, Kanaka Herath told the Sunday Times he accepts that it is difficult to implement, but the process has begun. “We are late but we are looking forward to a path to digital transformation.’’
The police and all the Magistrate’s and District Courts will be provided with mobile phones to access the demerit system points. The fine can be paid online on the spot, or at a post office.
If a driver were to be fined and points deducted for an offence, the individual can challenge it the court.
The Commissioner General of Motor Traffic, Nishantha Weerasingha said that the offender will be fined and penalised by a court, in addition to the deduction of points.
If a driver loses only 2 points in a year, he will be given 2 points back the following year to restore the 24 points.
“The Motor Traffic Department is ready to implement this. The police are yet to come on board,” he said.
Dr T Sivakumar, senior lecturer at the University of Moratuwa said: “If everything is genuine, this system will be welcomed.”
Even though the demerit system is implemented successfully, offenders could still bribe a traffic police officer.
He also said that the suspension should not be very long because the process to get a licence is very lengthy. The gap between the written exam and driving trial is three months.