As yet it has not been established that the demerit points licence for novice drivers in the Netherlands has a positive road safety effect [13]. The explanation lies mainly in the relatively low chance of being checked for the offences that are included in the system. If the chance of being checked is small, no noticeable effect is to be expected.
The Netherlands has had a limited demerit points system for novice drivers since 2002. The serious offences that are penalized with points are:
- causing hazards or hindrance in traffic;
- causing a road crash with (fatal) injury;
- tailgating at a speed faster than 80 km/h;
- excessive speeds of more than 40 km/h above the limit on motorways;
- excessive speeds of more than 30 km/h above the limit on other road types.
Every young driver who commits two of these serious violations in the first five years as a driver must take a driving competence test. If the score on the theory or the practical test is insufficient, the official driving test must be passed again.
Unlike demerit points systems (for novice drivers) in other countries, a number of other serious offences – including driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding between 20-30 km/hour above the limit, or red light running – are not part of the demerit points system in the Netherlands.
Research into the demerit points licence for novice drivers has not established a general preventive safety impact [13]. After the introduction of the beginner’s license the number of serious crashes did not decline stronger among young drivers (many of whom have the beginner’s license) than among older drivers (of whom only a small percentage have a beginners driver's license). Furthermore, no specific preventive effect was found, that is to say no evidence was found that drivers drove more safely after having received 1 point.
