Demerit Points System for driving licenses soon: State Minister

The Transport Ministry is to introduce the driving licence including the Driver Improvement Points which was known as Drivers’ Demerit Points System in the future, State Minister of Transport Dilum Amunugama said

He said once the new system is introduced and the merit points have been exhausted and brought to zero, it will result in automatic suspension of the driving licence.

‘Demerit points’ means the points assigned for traffic offences under the Motor Traffic Act in addition to any other penalties entered to the Driving Licence or Endorsement Form of the offender.

“With the accumulation of demerit points, the driving licence will be suspended for a specific period of time or the offender may have to obtain a fresh licence. The demerit point system will encourage drivers to be responsible and careful,” the State Minister said.

Meanwhile, he said after implementing the programme of issuance of the Smart Card-type driving licence, the ‘Dual-purpose’ and ‘Heavy vehicle’ driving licence categories will be altered as ‘Commercial’ and ‘Non-commercial’ driving licenses.

For the commercial driving licence category, holders can use their licenses for driving any type of vehicles such as buses, cars, and motorcycles and the drivers should be in sound health condition. But non-commercial licence holders such as differently-abled and disabled persons cannot use their licenses to drive commercial purpose vehicles, he said.

"Non- commercial licence holders can only use their licenses to continue with personal day-to-day activities, but they cannot use it for business purposes such as passenger and/or transporting goods," State Minister Amunugama further added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)