- Double demerits will be in force for 17 days from midnight tonight
- Drivers urged to make safety a priority
- The best gift drivers can give anyone in the festive season is to arrive safely
Western Australian motorists will be subject to double demerits from midnight tonight until 12am Monday, 8 January.
The aim of the initiative is to encourage safe driving on long weekends, public holidays and the busy festive season.
During this time, the following traffic offences are subject to double demerits:
- speeding;
- drink or drug driving;
- failing to wear a seatbelt or child restraint;
- running a red light;
- illegal use of a mobile phone while driving;
- driving a vehicle fitted with a radar detector; and
- driving a vehicle in a manner to evade detection by a speed camera.
Double demerit point periods are legislated under theRoad Traffic (Authorisation to Drive) Regulations 2014and regulation 67 sets out the holiday periods during which they can apply.
Drivers are being urged to make safety a priority over the festive season and know the ‘fatal five’ – speeding, driving under the influence, not wearing a seatbelt, driving while distracted (particularly by mobile phones) and driving tired.
As stated by Road Safety Minister David Michael:
“While double demerits aim to encourage safe driving, they should not be a key motivator for driver behaviour.
“As a driver, your key mission is to keep yourself, your family and other road users safe.
“This means driving to the conditions – even if the speed limit allows you to go 110km/h, if the sun is in your eyes, if visibility is poor or you are driving on a gravel road – slow down.
“There is no question that speed is the number one issue as far as road safety is concerned. It is a simple matter of physics.
“If you are going faster, you are more likely to be involved in a crash, and if you are involved in a crash, then the faster you are going means that you and your passengers are more likely to die or be severely injured.
“The question you must ask yourself is this: is the risk of a crash and its consequences really worth getting to your destination a couple of minutes earlier?
“Remember no one plans a crash – drive within the limits, travel safe and make it a happy festive season.”
