Every Vietnamese driving licence now runs on points. The Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety (No. 36/2024/QH15) gives each licence 12 points, and Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP deducts them violation by violation — on top of the money fines, not instead of them. For motorbike riders, the system quietly became the second half of every penalty.
How deduction works
Points are deducted when a penalty decision takes legal effect, not at the roadside. The decree lists which violations cost points and how many: smaller offences such as wrong-lane riding cost 2 points; mid-band offences such as red-light running and carrying too many passengers cost 4; the heavy categories — drink-driving bands, violations causing accidents — run to 10 and, in the accident-causing group, the full slate. Deductions stack across the year; the account does not reset merely because time passes.
What zero points means
A licence with all 12 points deducted is no longer usable. Riding on a fully deducted licence is punished as riding without a valid licence — the multi-million-dong bands — and the only route back is the formal restoration process: after at least six months, a knowledge test on road law run by the traffic police, and a restored 12 points on passing.
How the points interact with fines
The same act can cost money, points and a suspension at once. Drink-driving in the mid band, for example, combines the 6–8 million VND fine with point deduction and a licence suspension measured in months. The points ledger is the part riders forget, because it has no receipt — the first reminder is often the checkpoint that reads the licence and finds the balance at zero.
Foreign riders
Points apply to Vietnamese licences, including licences issued to foreign residents by exchange. An IDP rider has no Vietnamese points account — but also no points buffer: their exposure is the fine and suspension rules directly, and repeat violations surface at the licence-exchange stage rather than in a points ledger.
Information, not legal advice. Verified against Law 36/2024/QH15, Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP and the government’s official explanation of the points system on 2026-09-22.