Demerit points systems in Europe: room for improvement; Some recommendations from the European project BestPoint. Broadly speaking, a demerit points system involves a road user receiving demerit points in addition to the regular punishment when a traffic violation has been observed. If someone has received a certain number of demerit points within a certain period of time, the driver’s licence will be temporarily suspended. Demerit points systems aim at regular offenders and for this reason they are generally considered to be fair. This may be the explanation for their considerable popularity. Three quarters of the European Member States use some form of demerit points system. At present, the Netherlands has a simple variant which only applies to novice drivers. Recently, the European project BestPoint has concluded a two-year study into demerit points systems which resulted in a handbook for governments who are considering to implement a demerit points system. BestPoint investigated the actual effectiveness of a demerit points system and which type of system may be expected to be the most satisfactory. The most important conclusion is that demerit points systems are less effective than their popularity in Europe suggests. Initially, they have a considerable road safety effect, but their deterrence often is only short-lasting. However, the effectiveness of a demerit points system may be improved by setting it up in a good way; it is very important that both the objective and the subjective risk of being caught remain high and that automatically detected offences are also included.
Abstract