Warning to drivers heading on holiday

Australia’s annual double-demerit Easter weekend is looming, with offending drivers slapped with twice the number of demerits per offence.

There will be a strong police presence on the roads across all states to bust drivers doing the wrong thing, but the double demerit operation is not active in every state.

From Thursday, March 28 until Monday April 1, police will dish out double demerits in NSW, Western Australia and the ACT.

The operation will apply for offences including speeding, using a phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt and riding without a helmet.

In NSW and the ACT, mobile phone detection cameras are active and drivers caught using their phones during a double-demerit period will be hit with a $352 fine – $469 in a school zone – and 10 demerits.

For Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, there will be no double demerits, but extra police officers will be patrolling the roads over the long weekend.

In Queensland, the double-demerit system works slightly differently and is constantly employed, rather than getting wheeled out for busy long weekends.

The double whammy of demerits applies to people who have committed a second offence within 12 months of the first.

Police have cautioned drivers that they do not have to recommit the same offence to score a double demerit.