Singapore’s Demerit Point System Explained: What New Drivers Need to Know (2026)

Passing the BTT and FTT gets you the licence, but it doesn’t teach you what happens after you’re on the road. Every year, a good number of newly licensed drivers in Singapore get an unpleasant surprise: a letter from the Traffic Police telling them their licence has been suspended, sometimes just months after they started driving. The reason is almost always the same they didn’t realise how the demerit point (DP) system works, or that new drivers are held to a stricter standard than everyone else.

Here’s what you actually need to know before you start clocking up kilometres.

What Is a Demerit Point, Exactly?

Every time you’re caught committing a traffic offence in Singapore whether by a Traffic Police officer or an enforcement camera you don’t just get a fine. You’re also assigned a number of demerit points depending on how serious the offence is. Points stay on your record and accumulate. Roll past a certain threshold within a rolling window, and your licence gets suspended, regardless of how the fine itself was settled.

Common point values include:

• Speeding (up to 20km/h above the limit): 4 points
• Speeding (more than 40km/h above the limit): 12 points
• Beating a red light: 12 points
• Illegal parking in certain zones: 4 points
• Failing to stop at a pedestrian crossing when required: 12 points
• Using a mobile phone while driving: 12 points

These figures are periodically revised, so always check the current schedule on the Traffic Police website rather than relying on numbers you heard secondhand this is exactly the kind of “fact” that gets passed around inaccurately between learners.

Why New Drivers Have a Lower Threshold

This is the part that catches people off guard. An experienced driver can accumulate up to 24 demerit points within a 24-month period before facing suspension. A new driver — defined as anyone within 24 months of obtaining their first Class 3/3A licence only gets 13 points in that same window before suspension kicks in.

The logic is straightforward: new drivers are statistically more likely to be involved in accidents, so the system builds in an early warning mechanism that forces a pause and a rules refresher before habits harden into something dangerous. If you cross the 13 point threshold as a new driver, your licence is suspended for a minimum of 6 months, and you’ll need to retake your practical test before you can drive again.

The Curfew Rule Most Learners Forget

Beyond points, new drivers face an additional restriction that catches almost as many people off guard: for the first year after passing your practical test, you cannot drive between midnight and 6am unless you’re accompanied by a passenger who has held a valid Class 3/3A licence for at least 5 years. This isn’t a soft guideline driving solo during curfew hours as a new licence holder is itself an offence with its own penalty.

If your job, social life, or family situation means you’ll regularly need to drive late at night in your first year, plan around this before it becomes a problem rather than after.

How Points Actually Get Removed

Demerit points aren’t necessarily permanent. A few ways they come off your record:

• Time: points expire after the relevant window closes (12 or 24 months depending on your driver status), provided you don’t reoffend in the meantime.
• Safe Driving Course: for eligible offences, attending an approved course can reduce your point count — but this option typically isn’t available if you’re already over the suspension threshold.
• Good behaviour: some point reductions are tied to maintaining a clean record for a defined stretch, separate from simple expiry.

None of these are guaranteed shortcuts, and none of them reset instantly. The only fully reliable strategy is not accumulating points in the first place.

Why This Matters More at the FTT Stage Than People Think

A lot of FTT candidates focus entirely on getting through the exam and treat everything after as “real-world stuff I’ll figure out later.” But several FTT topics safe following distances, right-of-way at junctions, speed limit interpretation are directly the same behaviours that generate demerit points once you’re driving for real. Treating those questions as memorisation for a test, rather than as the actual rules you’ll be judged against on the road, is a big part of why so many new drivers end up on the wrong side of the points system within their first year.

Practical Takeaways for New Drivers

• Know your number: 13 points, not 24, is your real threshold for the first two years.
• Build in a buffer. Don’t drive as if you have room for one “minor” speeding ticket at new-driver thresholds, two or three ordinary offences can be enough to trigger suspension.
• Respect the curfew rule in your first year, especially if you don’t yet have a suitable accompanying passenger lined up.
• Treat FTT road-rule content as your actual operating manual, not just exam material.
• Check the official Traffic Police demerit point schedule directly rather than relying on figures passed around by friends or forums, since penalty amounts do get revised.

Getting your licence is the finish line for the BTT and FTT but it’s the starting line for a much longer track record that the Traffic Police is quietly keeping. Understanding the rules of that track from day one is the easiest way to make sure your first year of driving doesn’t come with an unwanted trip back to the test centre.