Penalty Points, Fines and Penalty Charges

➕How points add up

Penalty points are scored for traffic violations and crashes. Each violation carries a fixed number of points, and if people are injured in a crash, points for the injuries are added on top. Points are totalled over set periods to decide suspension or revocation.

When your points for disposition reach 40 or more, your licence is suspended, as a rule for one day per point. With 60 points you cannot drive for 60 days. Typical point values are below.

• Running a signal or ignoring an instruction: 15 points
• Crossing the centre line: 30 points
• Speeding by more than 60 km/h (up to 80 km/h over): 60 points — speeding by 20 km/h or less brings a fine but no points
• Driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.03% to under 0.08%: 100 points
• Injuries in a crash: 90 points per death, 15 per serious injury, 5 per minor injury, 2 per reported injury

⛔Suspension and revocation thresholds

Suspension happens when a single disposition reaches 40 points; revocation happens when accumulated points over a period pass a threshold. Any one of the following leads to revocation.

• 121 points or more within 1 year
• 201 points or more within 2 years
• 271 points or more within 3 years

🧹When points disappear

If your points for disposition are under 40, they expire once you go one year from your last violation or crash without a new one. Points from a single minor violation do not follow you forever.

Points already used for an executed suspension are left out when the next suspension is calculated. They still count toward the one-, two- and three-year revocation totals, however, so after one suspension you are closer to revocation.

The National Police Agency also runs a good-driving mileage scheme. If you pledge to drive for a year without violations or crashes and keep the pledge, you earn 10 bonus points that can later shorten a suspension. You can pledge at a police station or on the police traffic e-service site (eFine).

🎓Reducing points through special traffic safety courses

Completing a special traffic safety course run by the Korea Road Traffic Authority can, in some cases, reduce your points or suspension days. The course depends on your situation.

• Point-reduction course: if your points for disposition are under 40, completing it removes 20 points. The number of times you can take it is limited.
• Suspension-reduction course: if your licence has been suspended, completing it shortens the suspension by some days.
• Mandatory course: people whose licence was revoked for drunk driving and similar offences must complete a set course before getting a new licence.

💳Fines vs. penalty charges

A traffic fine (beomchikgeum) is a notice issued when a police officer identifies the driver on the spot. The violator pays it, and points are added. If unpaid by the deadline, a surcharge is added, and if it is still unpaid the case goes to summary trial.

A penalty charge (gwataeryo) is an administrative sanction imposed on the vehicle owner (or employer for a company car) when the driver cannot be identified, as with unmanned cameras. There are no points, but for the same violation the amount is often set slightly higher than the fine.

• Fine: driver identified → driver pays → points added
• Penalty charge: driver not identified → owner pays → no points

📷If you receive a camera ticket

When an unmanned camera catches a violation, the owner first receives an advance notice. If the actual driver is named within the period for comments, the case can be switched to a fine plus points for that driver, or the owner can pay the penalty charge. Paying voluntarily within the advance-notice period reduces the penalty charge somewhat.

Enforcement devices include fixed cameras that measure speed at one point, section cameras that judge the average speed over a stretch, cameras that check both signals and speed, and mobile units. With section enforcement, slowing down only in front of the cameras does not help if your average speed over the section is too high.

💬FAQ