More than 10,000 Wagga drivers have had a demerit point wiped in the past five months. Photo: Transport for NSW.
More than 10,000 Wagga Wagga drivers have had a demerit point wiped clean as part of the NSW Government’s demerit return trial.
The trial, which rewarded NSW drivers who hadn’t committed a driving-related offence in more than a year, resulted in 1.3 million people having a point removed.
About 20 per cent of Wagga drivers (10,059), had a point removed, with other LGAs including Griffith (2803), Cootamundra-Gundagai (1189) and Leeton (1039) also having a large number of drivers lose demerit points.
The demerit return trial has been extended for a second year as the NSW Government continues to sharpen its focus on road safety amid a rising road toll across Australia.
Some of the State Government’s biggest road focuses for 2024 and beyond include:
- Removing a loophole to force all motorists driving on a foreign licence to convert to a NSW licence within six months
- The introduction of seatbelt enforcement by existing mobile phone detection cameras from 1 July
- Doubling roadside enforcement sites used for mobile speed cameras, with the addition of 2700 new locations where a camera can be deployed. Enforcement hours will remain the same
- Hosting the state’s first Road Safety Forum of international and local experts.
Minister for Roads John Graham highlighted the importance of the demerit removal, stating: “If you drive for a living then the reward for safe driving could be the difference between ongoing employment and losing your livelihood.
“People are used to the stick of enforcement and double demerits but this is the carrot of reward for good behaviour.
“Every demerit point wiped from a licence under this trial is the result of a full 12 months of safe driving by a motorist on NSW roads.
“This is what we need at a time when fatalities on our roads have been rising just as they are in all other states and territories.”
Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Jenny Aitchison said that many people living in regional areas depended on driving every day and that the new trial rewarded those who drove safely.
“Many people in regional NSW depend on driving for their livelihood or just to get around and often do not have public transport options at all,” she said.
“The reward of a demerit point being removed will be meaningful to 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.
“It’s good to see thousands of drivers from Albury to the Tweed, to Broken Hill and everywhere in between being rewarded for their safe driving.”
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