Police prepare violation points for drivers

In the draft regulation that aims to maintain road traffic order and safety, the ministry says each driving license will have 12 points for 12 months, in line with a system applied by several countries to curb traffic violations.

Every new year, a license gets refreshed with the 12 points. The points will be deducted based on the violation committed. For instance, six points will be deducted for running a red light and five points for lane encroachment.

Those who lose all 12 points will have their driver licenses confiscated, following which they would have to pass an exam to get new ones. But a new one can be obtained only six months after the confiscated license has expired.

"The point is not shown on the driving license, but saved in a database, and whenever a point is deducted, the system will be updated. Traffic police officers can check to see how many points a driver has left on the system," said Colonel Do Thanh Binh, deputy head of the ministry's Traffic Police Department.

In case the police file a record to impose a fine on the violator, they will also have to record how many points that driver has lost.

"A record that only has fines but not corresponding deducted points will be considered invalid. This will help avoid situations in which drivers bribe police to save their points from being deducted," said Binh.

The draft law on road traffic order and safety has been submitted to the government for consideration. Once approved by the government, it will go to the National Assembly that will vote to make it an official law. 

In an earlier system launched in 2003, authorities began marking the number of traffic violations by making perforations directly on the driving license. Any driver having two perforations must pass an exam on road traffic laws to get a new license with the same expiration date. Those with three perforations will lose their driving license and must start the process from the beginning, including the exam and a driving test.

However, this regulation was abolished after four years, with the ministry finding it ineffective.