Motorcycle Offences

To avoid gaining motorcycle penalty points, it is important to avoid incurring any motorcycle speeding offences or motorcycle maintenance offences. The rules for both of these offences are implemented to keep all motorists safe on the road. You can be issued with a minimum of three points for each offence you make on your licence unless the offence is very serious and you will be disqualified from driving straight away. Motorcycle penalty points can continue to add up on a licence until twelve points are reached, and at which point a court may disqualify you from driving, usually for a period of six months. You may be able to avoid being disqualified from driving if you are able to prove that being without your licence can cause you great hardship for example if you use your vehicle for work however if will count on the discretion of the court and the nature of offences committed. After four years have passed since the original point of an offence, the motorcycle penalty points become invalid and a driver may send off their licence to the DVLA for the points which qualify for the four year period to be removed.

Motorcycle speeding offences can occur through accidental speeding as motorbikes have the ability to drive around cars on the road or to travel faster due to the lightweight of the vehicle and having fewer passengers. To ensure you are not speeding and to avoid acquiring any motorcycle penalty points, you may to attend a motorcycle refresher course which could test that you are driving to the best of your ability and can keep you safe when driving in adverse weather conditions such as rain or snow. You should also keep your bike up to date to avoid incurring motorcycle maintenance offences. Motorcycle speeding offences can be very dangerous at different parts of the day such as rush hour or after dusk, and can also put the driver at damage if driving on unsafe road surfaces. As there is no barrier between the driver and the road, if a collision was to occur while the driver was committing motorcycle speeding offences, they may be launched from the vehicle quite a distance, which can lead to serious head injury, body injury, or in worse cases death. It is important to make sure you have an extensive motorcycle kit including a helmet, protective gloves and protective boots to ensure your safety if a collision did occur. A good kit will also help you to avoid motorcycle maintenance offences. Fines for careless driving and motorcycle speeding offences can currently award 3-9 motorcycle penalty points to your licence depending upon the nature of the offence. In most cases, the motorcycle speeding offences must be proven by two pieces of evidence which may include a speed camera and also lines painted on the road. Speed can be measured in this way or also by a hand held device.

Motorcycle maintenance offences can be avoided by regularly checking your bike on a morning and night, and when storing your bike, keep it in a garage or other enclosure to avoid any rust damage or to avoid other motorcycle maintenance offences occurring that you may not notice before you start driving. It is important to check that the tyres on your motorcycle are suitable for the conditions you are driving in, are correctly inflated to an appropriate level and do not have any tears, avoiding other motorcycle maintenance offences. It is important to make regular checks that you steering is working correctly, and also that your brakes are performing. You should check that you are not carrying a load that is too heavy for your bike, and also that all storage is attached securely to evade motorcycle maintenance offences.

If six or more motorcycle penalty points are accumulated within first two years of passing test, would automatically return back to being a provisional licence holder and you must re-take and pass your test to gain back your full licence. This is under the new driver act, however may be are exempt from this if you have already held a clean licence in the same country for 2 years for a different vehicle.