Traffic offences in NSW
Infringement notices and fines
Paying a fine is not the end of it. It is an admission of the offence, the demerit points go on, and the offence sits on your traffic record. For most people the money is not the problem. The points are. There is a window in which that can still be changed, and it closes.
Jump to your notice
On this page
Mobile phone Screens Seatbelts Fail to stop Your options Going to court Demerit points Unpaid fines
On another page
Speeding and red light Camera detected notices Parking fines Criminal infringement notices
Do not pay it just to make it go away
Demerit points are recorded when the fine is paid, when an unpaid fine is enforced, or when a court convicts you. If these points will suspend you, or if you are on a provisional licence or a good behaviour period where the margin is two to four points, get advice before you pay. Call 0407 171 626 or 0407 534 594.
A penalty notice is an offer, not a judgment. Nobody has decided anything against you yet. You can accept it, ask for it to be reviewed, tell Revenue NSW you were not the driver, or require the matter to be heard in a court. Which of those is right depends almost entirely on what the points will do to your licence.
Catron Simmons Lawyers act for drivers across New South Wales on fines, demerit point suspensions and court elections. Our team includes former prosecutors and former highway patrol officers. We will tell you honestly whether a court election is worth the risk on your notice, because on plenty of them it is not.
Your options
Four things you can do with a penalty notice
Pay it
Quick and final. It is also an admission. The demerit points are applied, the offence goes on your traffic record, and it counts if you are ever before a court for something else. Payment plans are available if the amount is the difficulty.
Ask Revenue NSW to review it
Free, and worth doing where the notice is simply wrong, the vehicle was stolen, there was an emergency, or you have a clean record and a genuine explanation. A review can result in the notice being withdrawn or replaced with a caution. Request it by the due date on the notice.
Nominate the actual driver
Camera notices go to the registered operator. If someone else was driving, you provide a statutory declaration naming them within the time stated on the notice. Getting this wrong, or leaving it, means the points come to you, and naming the wrong person is a criminal offence far more serious than the fine.
Elect to have it heard in court
You can require the matter to be dealt with by a Local Court. This is the only route that can result in no demerit points at all. It is also the only route with real downside, so it is the one to take advice on.
Timing matters and the deadlines are not all the same. As a general rule you have 90 days from the date the penalty notice was issued to elect to go to court, and 28 days from the outcome if you asked for a review and it was refused. Different provisions apply once a penalty reminder notice has been served, so treat the due date on the most recent notice you have received as the deadline and work backwards from it.
Court election
What a court can actually do that Revenue NSW cannot
A court can decline to convict you. That is the whole point of the exercise. Demerit points follow a conviction, so where the court dismisses the matter under section 10 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999, or deals with it by a conditional release order without conviction, no points are recorded and your licence is not touched.
| Outcome | Fine | Demerit points |
|---|---|---|
| Not guilty after a defended hearing | None | None |
| Guilty, dismissed under s 10(1)(a) or CRO without conviction | None | None |
| Guilty, convicted and fined | Up to the statutory maximum, which is usually well above the penalty notice amount | Applied in full |
That third row is the risk, and it is a real one. On a mobile phone or screen offence the maximum a court can impose is 20 penalty units, which is several times the amount on the notice. A court election on a bad set of facts with a poor record can leave you worse off than if you had paid. The question is never simply whether you can go to court. It is whether there is something to say once you get there.
You can still elect after paying
If you have already paid and then realise what the points will do, an election made within 90 days of the notice being issued withdraws the penalty notice, the money is repaid, and Transport for NSW reverses the demerit points recorded on payment. People rarely know this and it is often the answer where a fine was paid in haste.
- A court election is usually worth it where the points will suspend you, cost a provisional licence, or breach a good behaviour period.
- It is usually worth it where the offence did not happen, or the evidence of it is thin.
- It is usually not worth it on a low value fine and one or two points against a clean licence with nothing to say beyond regret.
- Have the advice before the deadline, not after. There is no power to extend it once it has gone.
Demerit points
How many points you have before you lose your licence
Points accumulate over a rolling three year period from the date of each offence. The threshold depends on your licence.
| Licence | Points before suspension or refusal |
|---|---|
| Unrestricted | 13 |
| Professional driver | 14 |
| Provisional P2 | 7 |
| Provisional P1 | 4 |
| Learner | 4 |
| Unrestricted, during a good behaviour period | 2 |
An unrestricted licence holder who receives a notice of suspension for demerit points can apply for a twelve month good behaviour period instead of serving the suspension. The application must be made before the suspension starts, and there is no discretion to allow it afterwards. Two points during that period and the suspension comes back at double the original length, which is why a single fine matters far more to a driver on a good behaviour licence than the amount suggests.
Provisional and learner licence holders can appeal a demerit point suspension to the Local Court. Unrestricted licence holders cannot. That difference drives the whole strategy: for a full licence holder, the only place to stop the points is the fine itself, before they are recorded. See our page on licence suspension appeals.
Demerit point suspensions and Revenue NSW licence sanctions for unpaid fines are two separate things. Paying the fines will not lift a demerit point suspension, and serving a demerit point suspension will not clear an unpaid fine.
The common notices
Using a mobile phone
The prosecution must prove you were driving a motor vehicle that was moving, or stationary but not parked, and that you were using a mobile phone. Sitting in stopped traffic is not parked.
If you hold a full licence you may use a phone to make or take a call, or for audio, only where it is secured in a commercially made mounting fixed to the vehicle and not obscuring your view, or where you do not touch it at all. Everything else is an offence, including holding it to look at a map, and including resting it in your lap at the lights.
Learner, P1 and P2 drivers cannot use a phone at all. Not hands free, not on Bluetooth, not mounted as a navigation aid. The only exemptions are for police and emergency vehicles. This catches provisional drivers constantly and it is the point the fine most often turns on.
The current fine is $434, or $577 in a school zone, with five demerit points. Ten during a double demerit period, which is more than the entire allowance of a learner, P1 or P2 driver. In court the maximum is 20 penalty units.
Screens and visual display units
It is an offence to drive with a television receiver or visual display unit operating in the vehicle where any part of the image is visible to you from the normal driving position, or is likely to distract another driver. The offence is committed by the driver even where a passenger is the one using the device, which is how people end up fined because someone in the front seat was on a laptop or a video call.
The exceptions are narrow and cover genuine driver’s aids that are built into the vehicle or secured in a proper mounting, bus destination signs, and police and emergency vehicle data terminals. Three demerit points, and a maximum of 20 penalty units in court.
The common notices
Seatbelts and restraints
Seatbelt notices have gone from rare to routine. Since the middle of 2024 the mobile phone detection camera network has also been enforcing seatbelts, and the cameras were upgraded during 2026 to read traffic in both directions on single lane roads. The volume of notices went well past what was forecast, and most of them are not for a driver with no belt on at all.
Most notices are for wearing it wrongly, not for not wearing it
The offence is not restricted to an unfastened belt. It covers a belt worn under the arm or behind the back, a twisted or slack belt, a faulty or damaged belt, two people sharing one belt, and a child in the wrong restraint for their age and size. The camera sees the shoulder sash. If it is not where it should be, a notice follows.
The driver wears the passengers’ offences too
You are responsible for your own belt, and you are responsible for every passenger under sixteen being properly restrained. Passengers aged sixteen and over can be fined personally by police for their own belt, but where the offence is detected by camera it is the driver who is fined, and a separate fine and separate demerit points can be issued for each unrestrained occupant.
This is how a licence disappears in one stop
Three demerit points for your own belt, and three for each unrestrained passenger. A driver with two unrestrained passengers is looking at nine points from a single incident, which is more than a P2 driver has in total and most of an unrestricted licence. During a double demerit period it is worse again. If a seatbelt notice covers more than one occupant, get advice before you pay it.
When a seatbelt notice is worth challenging
- You hold a medical exemption certificate, or you were exempt for another reason recognised by the rules.
- The belt was worn but the image does not show it, which happens with dark clothing, a sash against a dark seat, or an obscured shoulder.
- You were not the driver. A camera notice goes to the registered operator, so nominating within the time on the notice is the first step, not an afterthought.
- The points will suspend you, or take a provisional licence, or breach a good behaviour period. That is the case to take to court properly prepared, not to pay.
Failing to stop and give particulars
Every driver involved in a crash must stop and give their particulars to any other driver, to anyone injured, and to the owner of any damaged property, whether or not the crash was their fault, and to police on request or where the exchange could not be made. The maximum penalty is 20 penalty units.
That is the fine level offence. Where someone has been killed or seriously injured, failing to stop and assist is a very different matter under the Crimes Act, carrying years of imprisonment rather than a fine. If that is your situation, do not deal with it as a traffic ticket. Call us.
Unpaid fines
What happens if you do nothing
Ignoring a notice does not make it lapse. It escalates on a fixed path, and each step adds cost.
Penalty reminder notice
Sent after the due date passes. This is the last easy point at which the matter can be paid, reviewed or taken to court.
Overdue fine
An enforcement order is made. Enforcement costs are added to the amount, and the demerit points are applied at this point as though you had paid.
Licence and registration action
Revenue NSW can have your licence suspended and your registration cancelled. Driving during that suspension is a separate criminal offence.
Civil enforcement
Garnishee of wages or a bank account, an examination, a property seizure order, or a charge over land. At this stage it is a debt like any other and it is pursued like one.
There are ways out at every stage, and they are underused. Revenue NSW will agree to a payment plan on almost any amount. A Work and Development Order allows fines to be cleared through unpaid work, treatment, counselling, courses or financial counselling for people in hardship, and it is worth asking about before anything else. An overdue fine can be annulled, which puts you back where you were and reopens the court election, and if Revenue NSW refuses, the Local Court can be asked. The Hardship Review Board can write fines off in genuine cases.
If your licence has already been suspended over unpaid fines, deal with the fines and the suspension as two separate problems, because they are. Unpaid parking fines escalate down the same path, and they are the ones people most often let run.
How we help
Where a lawyer is worth the money on a fine
Working out whether to elect at all
Half the advice we give on fines is not to go to court. That advice takes ten minutes and it has saved clients a great deal more than it cost them.
Building the section 10 application
A non conviction order is not handed out for asking. It needs your record, your driving history, the reason you need a licence and a properly prepared explanation put before the magistrate the right way.
Multiple notices at once
Several fines arriving together, or a suspension already issued, needs to be handled as one problem with a sequence, not four separate letters.
You deal with a principal
We are a boutique firm. You talk to the solicitor who will appear for you, not a call centre, and we are contactable outside business hours.
Common questions
Infringement notices: your questions answered
Does paying the fine mean I am admitting the offence?
Yes. Payment finalises the matter as though you had accepted it. The demerit points are applied and the offence appears on your traffic record. If you do not accept that you committed the offence, or the points will cost you your licence, do not pay it before getting advice.
Can the court reduce the fine or the demerit points?
The court can impose a lower fine, no fine, or no conviction at all, and if there is no conviction there are no demerit points. What the court cannot do is convict you and then reduce the points, because the points attach to the offence rather than to the sentence. So it is all or nothing, and that is why the application has to be prepared properly.
I already paid. Is it too late?
Not necessarily. An election to go to court made within 90 days of the notice being issued withdraws the penalty notice even where it has been paid. The money is refunded and the demerit points recorded on payment are reversed. Check the date on the notice before assuming anything.
I was not the driver. What do I do?
Nominate the person who was, by statutory declaration, within the time stated on the notice. Do it properly and do it on time. If you cannot say who was driving, that is a different and more difficult conversation, and it is worth having before you reply.
Can I be fined for a passenger not wearing a seatbelt?
Yes, and separately for each one. For passengers under sixteen it is squarely your responsibility. For passengers sixteen and over, police can fine them personally, but a camera detected offence is issued to the driver. This is the offence that most often produces a suspension out of a single stop.
What is a Work and Development Order?
A way of clearing fines without paying money, through unpaid work, medical or mental health treatment, drug or alcohol treatment, counselling, financial counselling or an approved course. It is available to people in financial hardship and to people with a mental health condition, an intellectual disability, an addiction, or who are homeless. Sponsors are approved organisations and health practitioners.
Will a fine give me a criminal record?
Paying a penalty notice does not create a criminal record. Being convicted in court does, and that is one of the things to weigh before electing. A non conviction order avoids both the record and the points.
Send us the notice before the deadline
Email us the penalty notice and tell us what licence you hold and what is already on it. We will tell you whether the points will suspend you, whether a court election is worth the risk, and what has to happen by when. We appear in Local Courts across New South Wales.
Alicia Catron 0407 171 626 or Michelle Simmons 0407 534 594. Open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, contactable outside those hours.