The most frequent traffic offences in 2018: Speeding, seat belt not fastened, use of mobile phone

The most frequent traffic offences in 2018: Speeding, seat belt not fastened, use of mobile phone
5/2/2019Press releases

Most drivers receive penalty points for speeding, failure to wear the seat belt and for driving with the mobile phone in their hands. Last year 395,000 offences and criminal acts, for which drivers got penalty points, were registered last year. The register currently lists 6.8 million drivers, of which seven percent have at least one penalty point, i.e. every 14th driver. This is the output from an analysis of the penalty point system for 2018, prepared by the Transport Research Centre.

The most frequent traffic offences in 2018: Speeding, seat belt not fastened, use of mobile phone
 
Speeding was the most frequent traffic offence in 2018. The speed limit exceeded in municipalities by less than 20 km/h but also by more than 5 km/h. One third of all drivers who received penalty points committed this offence. That is 130 000 cases.
The second most frequent office last year was the failure to wear the seat belt or protective helmet. The police penalised this in 17% of the cases, i.e. 66 000 offences.
 
The third most frequent offence was the holding of the mobile phone or another voice or recording device while driving. This was the case in 13% of all offences – that is 51 000 cases.
 
The fourth offence was speeding – 20 km/h and more in a municipality and more than 10 km/h but less than 30 km/h outside municipalities, which was the fifth most frequent offence. What follows is non-respecting the right of way, major speeding, failure to stop at red light or at the "Stop" sign, use of alcohol or drugs and driving without driving licence.
 


Most drivers have two or three penalty points
 

There were 480 000 drivers in the central drivers registry as of 31 December 2018 who had committed a traffic offence or criminal act subject to penalty points. Such a driver therefore has at least one penalty point. This corresponds to seven percent of all registered drivers (6.8 million), so every 14th driver has a penalty point.
 
Almost 40 000 drivers, i.e. over eight percent of all penalised drivers, have twelve points. Most of them have two points (170 000 drivers), followed by a group with three points (107 000 drivers). Men aged 44 and women aged 43 are the biggest group of penalised drivers.
The Ministry of Transport sent a proposal to the remarks proceedings in February to amend the points system as part of a road act amendment. The aim is to simplify the system to three sets of points, set fixed on-the-spot fines and respond to the most frequent offences. The amendment will not bring stricter penalties – on the contrary, the Ministry of Transport wants to reduce penalties for minor offences.




 
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