Every traffic offence in Victoria carries with it a penalty of demerit points which will be recorded on your licence

If you are a full licence holder and you accumulate at least 11 demerit points within three years your license will be suspended for a minimum of three months.

If you hold a learner or a probationary licence and you accumulate four demerit points within one year, your license will be suspended for a minimum period of three months. Four demerit points over the limits earn one additional month of suspension.

The authority to suspend a licence for accumulated demerit points is given to VicRoads — this is the government office that issues drivers’ licences in Victoria. Once a learner, probationary licence holder, or full licence holder has accumulated demerit points, VicRoads will send a notice through the mail informing you that you have already accumulated demerit points that will merit you a licence suspension.

The notice will also give you the option to serve the licence suspension or else, undertake to drive responsibly for the next twelve months and not get any more demerit points. This is a good driving behaviour undertaking.

If you opt to undertake good driving behaviour for twelve months and you fail to keep your record clean for the next twelve months, you will have to serve a suspension that is twice as long as the original suspension. For example, if at the end of three years you earned eleven demerit points, your licence will be suspended for three months.

If you serve the three months, then at the end of the suspension period, you will be able to drive again. But if you choose the good driving behaviour option and you fail to maintain good driving behaviour for the next twelve months, the moment you get another demerit point, instead of serving just a three-month suspension, your suspension will be doubled, and it will become a six-month suspension.

Of course, you can always challenge the suspension order imposed upon you by VicRoads. You can go to court and challenge the suspension order by proving that VicRoads made a mistake in recording and summing up the demerit points.

You can also challenge each traffic violation you are charged with in court. If you succeed in proving that the police did not have any right to cite you with a traffic violation, you will be declared not guilty, and no demerit points will be recorded upon your licence.

Penalties For Speeding Offences (Except Heavy Vehicles)

The penalties for full licence holders caught speeding are:

Penalties For Speeding Offences – Heavy Vehicles

The penalties for full licence holders caught speeding in a heavy vehicle are:

Fine amounts correct as at 1 July 2022. Amounts are adjusted in July each year.

Red Light Camera Offences

Failing to obey traffic lights, both red-light and red-light arrow, incurs a penalty of $462 and three demerit points.

Unregistered Vehicle Offences

Driving an unregistered vehicle incurs a penalty of $925.

Penalties For Corporations

Drivers who commit operator onus offences (like speeding, red light running, and level crossing violations) in company cars have to be named.

Nominated fines are reissued to the driver at the amount relevant to the offence (for example, $231 for full licence holders caught speeding less than 10km/h).

There’s a $3,698 penalty if you don’t nominate a driver. There’s a $22,190.40 (as of 1 July 2022) penalty if a company fails to nominate a driver three times in 12 months, as per section 84BEA of the Road Safety Act 1986.