Sri Lanka will launch a pilot demerit points system for motorists in September as part of a wider push to improve road safety and reduce traffic-related deaths, Transport, Highways and Urban Development Minister Bimal Rathnayake told Parliament.
Under the proposed scheme, every driver will be allocated 24 points on their licence, with points deducted for traffic violations. Repeated offences could trigger penalties including the suspension of driving privileges once the balance reaches zero, the minister said.
Rathnayake said stronger enforcement was needed to improve driving standards, arguing that traditional fines and regulations alone had not been enough to curb reckless behaviour on Sri Lankan roads. The country recorded 2,750 road accident deaths in 2025, with motorcyclists and pedestrians accounting for the majority of fatalities, he told the House.
The minister acknowledged that earlier attempts to introduce the demerit system had been delayed because of irregularities and administrative problems inside the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT). He pointed to ongoing reforms at the agency — including digitalisation, anti-corruption measures and the rollout of the e-Motoring project — as the prerequisites that needed to be in place before a points-based regime could function fairly.
The September pilot would be the first formal test of a demerit framework under the new Transport Ministry leadership. Rathnayake has already set a 2029 target for sharply cutting annual road fatalities from a baseline he then described as exceeding 2,700. The DMT itself has been under heavy scrutiny in recent months over a Werahera fake-licence racket, a former deputy commissioner’s CIABOC arrest and a COPA hearing this week at which the Attorney General was named as overseeing departmental corruption probes.
The minister did not specify which traffic violations will carry the highest point deductions or whether the pilot will run in a single province before nationwide rollout. He also did not announce a final cabinet approval date for the underlying regulations.
