Traffic Police Department proposes to deduct points from the driving license of drivers who violate the law.

On September 24, Colonel Do Thanh Binh, Deputy Director of the Traffic Police Department, said that the unit is studying a proposal to amend the Road Traffic Law, including the application of point deductions from the driver's license of drivers who violate traffic laws.

According to Colonel Binh, although there are currently administrative penalties for drivers who violate traffic laws, in cases of minor violations, drivers are only fined and their driver's license is returned. This reality goes against the world trend. Specifically, in China, if a traffic participant commits a violation of alcohol concentration, 6/12 points will be deducted and a warning will be given; if all points are deducted, the driver's license will be re-tested.

In addition, the Deputy Director of Traffic Police said that "the current situation of fines leading to violators becoming indifferent to the law" and that if points are deducted from the driver's license every time a driver violates the law, it will limit negativity, the penalty decision will have a deterrent effect, help raise awareness of traffic participants, and reduce accidents.

To apply the above-mentioned deduction of points on driver's licenses, along with amending the Road Traffic Law and related documents, the Traffic Police Department believes that it is necessary to synchronize the database system of driver's licenses nationwide. When handling cases, the police only need to look up the name and deduct points from the violating driver on this system.

Agreeing with the proposal of the Traffic Police Department, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Quy - former head of the violation handling team, Traffic Police Team No. 1 (Hanoi) analyzed that the point deduction measure will be used as a basis to determine how many times and where the driver violated, thereby allowing the authorities to grasp the information to take necessary measures.

"Currently, administrative penalties for traffic violations are not enough of a deterrent. Furthermore, many drivers violate the law and then abandon their driving licenses, deliberately not paying fines, and then easily get new driving licenses," Mr. Quy said.

Since 2003, authorities have applied the measure of marking the number of traffic violations by drivers by "punching holes".

Accordingly, if the driver's license is marked for two violations, the driver must retake the Road Traffic Law test when renewing the driver's 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 be issued a new license.

At that time, punching holes became a nightmare for drivers. However, the Ministry of Public Security later said that punching holes on driver's licenses did not show the time of violation, and the license was dirty and unsightly. Not to mention the negative effects that arose when drivers with many punched holes tried to find ways to "run" for a new license. In 2007, Decree 146 was issued, officially abolishing the regulation of "punching holes on driver's licenses".