Penalties, Demerit Points and Legal Liability
Penalty questions are arithmetic plus vocabulary. You need the points value, the fine range, the licence consequence and the re-application waiting period - and you must keep 饮酒 (drinking) separate from 醉酒 (drunk).
Sanction types
Warning, fine, temporary suspension (暂扣), revocation (吊销) and detention. Demerit points run 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12.
Drink-driving thresholds
20–80 mg/100 ml of blood alcohol is 饮酒驾驶; 80 mg/100 ml and above is 醉酒驾驶.
- Drinking and driving a normal car: 6 months' suspension, 1,000–2,000 yuan, 12 points.
- A second drinking offence: up to 10 days' detention, fine, licence revoked.
- Drunk driving: licence revoked, criminal liability for dangerous driving, and 5 years before you may apply again.
- Drinking in a commercial vehicle: 15 days' detention, 5,000 yuan, revocation, 5 years. Drunk in a commercial vehicle: 10 years, and never again in a commercial vehicle.
- A serious accident while drunk: lifetime ban.
Points values to memorise
- 12 points: drunk driving, hit-and-run after injury or death, forged plates or licences, reversing or driving against traffic on an expressway.
- 9 points: driving outside your permitted class, no plate or a deliberately obscured plate.
- 6 points: running a red light, occupying the hard shoulder.
- 3 points: hand-held phone, failing to give way at a pedestrian crossing.
Serious consequences
Fleeing the scene: revocation, and a lifetime ban where a crime was committed. Traffic-causing crime: up to 3 years; 3–7 years if the driver fled; 7 years or more where fleeing caused a death. Driving without a licence: 200–2,000 yuan and up to 15 days' detention. More than 50% over the limit: 200–2,000 yuan, licence may be revoked. No compulsory insurance: vehicle held and a fine of twice the premium.
Full marks
At 12 points the licence is withheld, 7 days of study are required and 科目一 is retaken. At 24 points, or at 12 twice within one cycle, 科目三 is added.
Worked example
A driver is stopped at 45 mg/100 ml. That is below 80, so it is drinking, not drunk: 6 months' suspension, 1,000–2,000 yuan, 12 points, no criminal record. Choosing the 'drunk driving, criminal liability' option because the number sounds high is the standard error.
Traps
- Applying the drunk-driving penalty at the drinking threshold.
- Mixing up the 5-year and 10-year bans.
- Forgetting that a second drinking offence escalates to detention and revocation.