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Traffic fines and penalties

Traffic fines and penalties help make our roads safer. On one hand they deter drivers from breaking road rules, but most importantly they get dangerous drivers who commit serious or repeat offences off the road.

The most severe penalties are for careless, reckless or dangerous driving that kills or injures someone. Penalties can include a maximum fine of $20,000, imprisonment for five years, and disqualification of your driver licence. For lesser driving offences, fines are the most common penalty.

Demerit points are given for some traffic offences and for speeding infringements. If you accumulate 100 or more demerit points in a two-year period, your licence is suspended.

Other penalties available to the Police include roadside suspension of your licence, vehicle impoundment and even arrest.

Fines and demerit points need to work together

It's debatable whether fines alone are successful in changing driver behaviour.

Some motorists receive fines they can't afford, and don't intend to pay, so receiving yet another fine has no impact. When these cases eventually reach court, judges often wipe thousands of dollars of fines from infringers' bills accepting they will never be paid.

AA speaking up for motorists

The traffic fines and penalties system needs to be overhauled

For some drivers the threat of losing their licence is a greater deterrent than being fined. Therefore the AA supports the use of demerit points for a wider range of infringements, and increasing demerits for the most serious offences.

Some of the current penalties need to be revised to better reflect the seriousness of the infringement in relation to other offences. For example, the penalty for running a red light ($150 fine and 20 demerit points) is too low considering the high potential danger caused by the offence.

What AA Members are saying

The majority of AA Members consider fines and demerit points to be equal threats - 25% consider fines a greater threat while 17% consider demerits a greater threat.

Respondents expressed mixed feelings about replacing some fines with demerits (35% for and 46% against) - with the balance both in numbers and strength being opposed in a March 2005 Survey.