According to reports, exemplary drivers who have never lost any points on their driving licenses could be awarded three extra points.


Diário de Notícias (DN) explained that drivers with a clean licence for the past three years could have 15 points - as opposed to the standard starting point of 12 – and can be considered as an exemplary driver, “or at least a driver who has not committed any serious or very serious infractions in the last three years”.


The possibility of adding these three points to individual registrations on the Offences Portal was provided for with the coming into force of the point system – which happened on 1 June, 2016 - and logged in Decree Law 114/94, 3 May, of the current Road Code.


DN’s report goes on to explain that in article 148, paragraph 5, which explains the points system and the suspension of driving licences, if, “at the end of each three-year period, there is no record of serious or very serious misconduct or road crimes on the offences register, three points are awarded to the driver, and the maximum limit of fifteen points may not be exceeded in accordance with Article 121a (2).”


“For example, if in 2019 a motorist with 15 points commits an offence that ‘costs’ three or more points, and until 2022 does not break the Road Code again, they can regain the three-point bonus”, the piece clarified.


At present, a serious offence implies the subtraction of two or three points from the driver’s licence, while very serious offences involve the subtraction of up to five points.


By default all licences start with 12 points, and if or when all 12 points are lost, drivers are obliged to hand in their licences and re-sit classes to get it back.


According to a statement from the National Road Safety Authority (ANSR), since the point system came into force three years ago, 505 driving licences have been withdrawn and 968 cases are still being investigated.


Of the approximately 80,000 drivers already punished with the subtraction of points, more than 60 percent lost only two, corresponding to a serious offence.