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In case you commit an offence in QLD, Australia, the Department of Transport and Main Roads allocates demerit points and records your history about the traffic offences. The traffic history includes all the crimes relating to applicable road rules, dangerous driving, drink-driving or drug-driving and any vehicle registration offence you may commit on the roads.
What are demerit points?
Demerit points are penalty points that driver licence holders get for committing traffic offences in Queensland or any other territory in Australia. The points apply to the date a license holder commits a crime or offences. The demerit points are recorded upon payment of the fine when referred to State Penalty Enforcement Registry for failure to pay, or the court has solved the offence.
How many demerit points do you get?
The demerit points for a licence holder or driver depends on the kind of licence they hold in Queensland.
Learner Licence or Class C
In case you record 4 or more points on your traffic history in less than a year while you are a Queensland Class C or learner licence holder, then you will get the notice of a Driver Licence Suspension. The notice advises the driver of suspension of licence for three months. Once you record 4 points, you lose the option of right driving behaviour, and you cannot apply for the special hardship orders. You get banned from driving during the period. Your licence is automatically reinstated at the end of suspension if it has not yet expired or cancelled during the period due to some other offence or reason.
Open Licence
A holder of an open licence in Queensland receives warning letter once they accumulate 7 or more demerit points in a 3-year period. If your traffic history records more than 12 points in the three years, you will obtain a notice. The notice will provide and advise you to choose whether to suspend your open licence for a specified period or you agree to continue driving under the one-year good behaviour.
In case you choose good driving behavior for a year, then you keep the current licence given you don’t accumulate more than one point. If you record one or more demerit points in the period, then you risk dual suspension.
Provisional Licence
Holders of probationary licences in Queensland receive a notice for recording at least four demerit points in one year period. The note offers two options include suspension of licence for three months or accepts to drive under the one-year good behaviour.
You can opt to continue driving for under period of correct driving behaviour and keep the licence. During the one year good behaviour period, you should not record more than a single demerit point. In case you accumulate 2 points or more during the period, then you risk suspension of your provisional licence.
How long do demerit points last?
Points for provisional and learner licence last for the year whereas open licence lasts for three years.
How to check points on your license?
You can check the demerits points on your licence here or by visiting Transport and Main Roads website and Queensland Government websites. On the sites, you can check accumulated points, the status of your driving licence and types or classes of licences you hold.
After how many points is your license suspended?
The requisite period for license suspension depends on the license you hold. For an open licence, a three months suspension applies for the accumulation of at least 12 points to 15 points. A holder of the licence will get a suspension of 4 months if they accumulate 16 to 19 demerit points. For more than 20 demerits during the 3-year period, an open licence is suspended for five months.
For provisional holders and learner holders, the licence suspension period is three months.