Ministry of Public Security proposes to deduct driving license points on a 12-point scale

Traffic police fine violators in Hanoi

The proposal to deduct points from driving licenses for violations is a new point in the draft Law on Road Traffic Safety and Order in April 2024, compared to the draft submitted by the Ministry of Public Security to the National Assembly at the end of 2023. This issue is studied from the experience of many countries such as Singapore, Japan, China...

According to the draft, each driving license has 12 points, which are stored in the database system. Drivers who violate the law will have points deducted. The specific number of points deducted will correspond to each violation and will be specified in detail by the Government .

Point deduction data is updated on the data system as soon as the penalty comes into effect. The driver is notified of this.

If the driver's license has not been deducted all 12 points and the driver has not had any additional points deducted in the last 12 months, the full number of points will be restored.

In case the driving license is deducted all points, the driver must participate in the road traffic safety and order knowledge test organized by the Traffic Police Department. After completing the course and passing the test, the driver's license will be restored to the full 12 points.

Newly renewed, reissued, or upgraded driving licenses will retain the same number of points as before the change. The Government will regulate the procedures for deducting and restoring points from driving licenses.

Class A1 driver's license

Deducting points will help drivers obey the law better.

Traffic violations in Vietnam have been widespread in recent times, according to the Ministry of Public Security, due to poor driver awareness and a lack of clear traffic culture. On average, each year, traffic police handle more than 3 million violations, revoking driving licenses in more than half a million cases.

Traffic accidents have decreased but remain high, with many resulting in deaths and injuries. The main cause is the driver's failure to comply with regulations.

Meanwhile, the training, testing, and licensing of drivers still have many shortcomings, are not suitable, not close to reality, and some stages are still too lenient. Many students, after being granted a driver's license, are not confident enough to drive a car on the road, have poor skills, and do not understand the law, especially traffic rules. The management of drivers after being tested and licensed is being laxed but there are no effective measures, the drafting agency stated.

According to current regulations, if a driver commits a serious or extremely serious violation, his/her driving license will be revoked for 1 to 24 months. On average, each year, there are more than 500,000 cases of license revocation, preventing drivers from driving, affecting travel, production, business, and people's lives.

The license revocation is also being done manually, so many violators abandon their licenses and do not come to get them. "Each time a point is deducted, it is like a warning bell to help drivers obey the law better," the Ministry of Public Security stated.

The drafting agency commits that the procedure for deducting and restoring driving license points will be simple and hassle-free for violators. The data system will automatically deduct points from violators, so they do not need to meet directly with the authorities, avoiding negative consequences.

Similar to "hole punching"

The idea of ​​deducting points from a violator's license was first applied by the Ministry of Public Security in 2003, in the form of "punching". If a driver's license is marked twice, the driver must retake the Road Traffic Law test when renewing the license; if it is marked three times, the driver's license will expire, and the driver must retake both the theory and practice tests to get a new license.

After 4 years of implementation, this regulation was abolished. The Ministry of Public Security said that punching holes on the driver's license does not show the time of violation, the license is dirty and unsightly. In addition, punching holes can easily lead to negative consequences when drivers with many punched holes will try to find ways to "run" for a new license.

In early 2020, when the Law on Road Traffic Safety was first drafted, the Ministry of Public Security proposed that each driver's license would have 12 points, corresponding to 12 months, and drivers would have points deducted from the system for each violation.

However, in the draft submitted to the National Assembly at the end of 2023, the Ministry of Public Security abandoned this proposal. But many delegates said that it was necessary to add a regulation on deducting points from driver's licenses. Venerable Thich Duc Thien (Vice President and General Secretary of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha) cited that when he got his driver's license in California (USA), they also applied the regulation that drivers who violate the law will have points deducted depending on the severity of the violation. When all points are deducted from a driver's license, it will be revoked and an administrative fine will be imposed. "There needs to be a regulation on deducting points from driver's licenses in the Law on Road Traffic Safety and Order," Mr. Thien stated his opinion in November 2023.

TH (according to VnExpress)

Source: https://baohaiduong.vn/bo-cong-an-de-xuat-tru-diem-giay-phep-lai-xe-theo-thang-12-380338.html