Greenslips News

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the team at greenslips.com.au

Thank you for your support and we look forward to 2010.

NSW Driver Demerit Points Change From 1 July 2009

The Minister for Roads, Michael Daley, has introduced a new demerit point system in NSW with effect from 1 July, 2009.  

For unrestricted drivers the following demerits and penalties will now apply:- 

1 – 10 km/h over the speed limit  will attract 1 demerit point & an $84 fine
11 – 20 km/h over the speed limit will attract 3 demerit points & a $197 fine
21 – 30 km/h over the speed limit will attract 4 demerit points & a $338 fine
31 – 45 km/h will result in a 3 month suspension, 5 demerit points & a $647 fine
Over 45 km/h will result in a 6 month suspension, 6 demerit points & a $1,744 fine. 

“The new bands have been designed to drive down the number of speeding-related deaths and injuries by better reflecting the seriousness of the offence”, he said. 

Consequently, motorists with an unrestricted licence who inadvertently drift over the speed limit by less than 10 km/h will now have less demerit points, but motorists that speed in excess of 20km/h will attract more demerits and heavier fines than before. 

Speeding by P-plate drivers is of particular concern to the Government. P2 drivers will now be subject to 1 extra demerit point if they are just 1km/h over the speed limit. This means a P2 driver will lose their licence if they get 2 speeding tickets, while P1 drivers will lose their licence if they get 1 speeding ticket. 

Speeding offences that occur in a school zone attract fines and demerit points in addition to the above. 

The total demerit points you can accumulate before your licence is suspended are as follows:- 

Full unrestricted licence:             12 demerit points in any 3 year period.
P2 licence:                                7 demerit points
P1 licence:                                4 demerit points 

The National Driver Licensing Scheme, adopted by NSW in March 1999, means that any speeding fines you get in another State shall be transferred back to NSW to be recorded on your licence. The appropriate number of demerit points shall be applied as if the fine was incurred in NSW. 

To find out how many points you have remaining on your licence you can do an online search at the RTA.

State Govt Mini Budget - Greenslip Prices

In the Mini Budget speech given by the Treasuer Eric Roozendaal to Parliament yesterday, the Treasurer said,

"The Government will further reform the Greenslip scheme to provide hospital and ambulance coverage for at-fault drivers".

Under the current scheme, at-fault drivers are not covered unless they are under 16 years of age or unless they are catastrophically injured (in which case they are covered under the Lifetime Care & Support Scheme).

Clearly the government is expanding the scheme as a way to reduce a cost burden on the hospital system.  The burden will be transferred to insurers and greenslip purchasers and will translate to an increase in premiums.  In the same speech, the Treasuer said,

"This extra coverage will add around $10 to the cost of the average green slip".

The reality is that the impact on the cost of a greenslip will not be known until the changes to the scheme are implemented.  The increase in the premium will be determined by the insurers, not by Mr Roozendaal.

The Mini Budget Paper (page A - 7) shows an estimated cost recovery for the government of $105,000,000 between 2009 and 2012.

The change to the scheme does transfer a cost burden from the government to insurers and greenslip purchasers.  It will result in higher greenslip premiums.  The potential benefit is that at-fault drivers, not normally covered by the scheme, will now be entitled to benefits under the scheme.  More will be known when documentation of the reforms is available.

Registration Reforms

The RTA has introduced changes to the requirements for vehicle registration, effective 1 July 2008.

There are two main changes affecting vehicle registration.

The first change is that new light vehicles are now exempt from requiring a vehicle safety inspection (pink slip) for the first five years, up from three years.  The exemption now also includes light commercial vehicles, panel vans, caravans, trailers and four wheel drive vehicles with a compliance date of 1 July 2003 onwards.

The second change affects pink slips.  Pink slips for vehicle safety inspections are now only issued electronically and are called e-Safety Checks.  Authorised Inspection Stations are now called e-Safety Stations.  The e-Safety Check will be transmitted electronically to the RTA.

The RTA says the aim of the changes is to save motorists time and money.

Both greenslips and e-Safety Checks will now be transmitted electronically to the RTA.

The changes, whilst simplifying the registration process, do pose some risk.  Tyres are a good example.  Tyres on many vehicles need to be replaced in less than five years.  Vehicle safety inspections have been a good way of ensuring worn tyres are replaced.  Without inspection for another two years, the risk of some drivers driving on dangerous tyres has increased.