Following a disappointing start for the New South Wales road toll in January 1997 and in order to avoid a re-occurrence of high fatality levels during the 1996 Easter school holidays, the double demerit points initiative was introduced as part of the NSW Government's 1997 Easter road safety package. During the 1997 Easter school holiday period licence demerit points for speeding were doubled whilst demerit points for all other driving offences were increased by one point. There was no increase in fines for these offences. An initial evaluation of the measure indicated that it made a major contribution to the record low 1997 Easter road toll. Consequently, the double demerit points measure was trialled for every long weekend over twelve months, in addition to the 1997/98 Christmas/New Year and 1998 Easter holiday periods. This paper summarises the findings from an evaluation of the measure over the trial period. (A)
Abstract