Road traffic offences and their penalties
This is Schedule 2 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, rendered from the payload rather than retyped. Where the schedule itself shows nothing in a column, this table shows nothing too — a blank here is the source’s own blank, not a missing value.
The instrument
Schedule 2 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, Part I
Part I of Schedule 2 to the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 is the prosecution-and-punishment table for road traffic offences. It is what this page renders, row by row.
Two Acts of 1988 are in play here and their names are easy to swap: this table is often looked for as “Road Traffic Act 1988 Schedule 2”, which names the other one. The offence itself is created by another provision — each row of the schedule names that provision in its own Provision column, and for most rows that provision is in the Road Traffic Act 1988. Schedule 2 Part I of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 then states how the offence is prosecuted and what it is punished by. It is why a source line beneath a single offence on this site names a pair: RTA 1988 for the Act that creates the offence, then RTOA 1988 Sch.2 Pt.I for this schedule.
Part I reads across: the provision that creates the offence, the offence itself, the maximum punishment on conviction, whether disqualification is obligatory or discretionary, whether endorsement is obligatory, and the points. Every row of it is on this page, printed once, in the table below. The schedule is the closest thing Great Britain has to the single table other countries publish as a penalties catalogue — road traffic offences and their penalties, in one place.
The schedule
All 25 offences
Rendered from the payload, not retyped. Where the schedule itself shows nothing in a column, this table marks the cell (BLANK) rather than leaving it empty or inventing a dash — and says so beneath.
The column that surprises people is the maximum. It almost never contains an amount. Maximum fines in this schedule are written as a level on the standard scale, and a separate statute says what each level is worth — so “Level 3” is the answer the schedule gives, and the money is one table further on. Both tables are further down this page, for both jurisdictions, because what a level resolves to is a real question and hiding it behind a label would be a poor answer to it.
Three reading rules are worth having before you scan it. Cells the schedule leaves empty are marked (BLANK) rather than left visibly bare — which is a different statement from “none” or “not applicable”, and the legend under the table says so. Marking them is the point: an empty cell in a table you are scanning sideways reads as something that failed to load, and dropping the column would erase a fact outright. A range in the points column is the court’s to choose within, not a scale you can locate yourself on. And a handful of rows state their punishment differently in England and Wales than in Scotland — those rows show both readings side by side rather than one flattened figure.
← swipe to see the whole table →
| Offence | Provision | Maximum punishment | Disqualification | Endorsement | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exceeding speed limit | RTRA 1984 s.89(1) | Level 3 on standard scale | Discretionary | Obligatory | 3–6 or 3 (fixed penalty) |
| Careless, and inconsiderate, driving | RTA 1988 s.3 | Level 5 | Discretionary | Obligatory | 3–9 |
| Dangerous driving | RTA 1988 s.2 | (a) summarily: 6 months or statutory maximum; (b) on indictment: 2 years or a fine | Obligatory | Obligatory | 3–11 |
| Driving/attempting to drive unfit through drink or drugs | RTA 1988 s.4(1) | 6 months or level 5 | Obligatory | Obligatory | 3–11 |
| In charge, unfit through drink or drugs | RTA 1988 s.4(2) | 3 months or level 4 | Discretionary | Obligatory | 10 |
| Driving/attempting to drive, excess alcohol | RTA 1988 s.5(1)(a) | 6 months or level 5 | Obligatory | Obligatory | 3–11 |
| In charge, excess alcohol | RTA 1988 s.5(1)(b) | 3 months or level 4 | Discretionary | Obligatory | 10 |
| Driving/attempting to drive over specified drug limit | RTA 1988 s.5A(1)(a)+(2) | DIVERGE — England & Wales: 51 weeks or level 5; Scotland: 6 months or level 5 | Obligatory | Obligatory | E&W 51 weeks or level 5Scot 6 months or level 5 |
| In charge, over specified drug limit | RTA 1988 s.5A(1)(b)+(2) | DIVERGE — England & Wales: 51 weeks or level 4; Scotland: 3 months or level 4 | Discretionary | Obligatory | E&W 51 weeks or level 4Scot 3 months or level 4 |
| Failing to co-operate with a preliminary test | RTA 1988 s.6 | Level 3 | Discretionary | Obligatory | 4 |
| Failing to provide specimen | RTA 1988 s.7 | (a) drink/drive-linked: 6 months or level 5; (b) other: 3 months or level 4 | (a) Obligatory (b) Discretionary | Obligatory | (a) 3–11 (b) 10 |
| Seat belt (driver/adult)driver-adult | RTA 1988 s.14 | Level 2 | (blank) | (blank) | (blank) |
| Seat belt, child in frontchild-front | RTA 1988 s.15(2) | Level 2 | (blank) | (blank) | (blank) |
| Seat belt, child in rearchild-rear | RTA 1988 s.15(4) | Level 2 | (blank) | (blank) | (blank) |
| Failing to comply with traffic signs | RTA 1988 s.36 | Level 3 | Discretionary, conditional (only for a sign specified by regulation under s.36) | Obligatory if committed as mentioned in the entry in column 5 | 3 |
| Brakes/steering/tyres | RTA 1988 s.41A | Level 5 (goods/PSV >8 passengers) or level 4 (other) | Discretionary | Obligatory | 3 |
| Control of vehicle / mobile phones | RTA 1988 s.41D | (a) Level 4 goods/PSV; (b) Level 3 other | Discretionary | Obligatory | (a) 3 [s.41D(a)] (b) 6 [s.41D(b)] |
| Other construction & use requirements | RTA 1988 s.42 | Level 4 (goods/PSV) / Level 3 (other) | (blank) | (blank) | (blank) |
| No test certificate (MOT) | RTA 1988 s.47 | Level 4 (>8 passengers) / Level 3 (other) | (blank) | (blank) | (blank) |
| Driving without a licence | RTA 1988 s.87(1) | Level 3 | Discretionary, conditional | Obligatory, conditional | 3–6 |
| Causing/permitting driving without a licence | RTA 1988 s.87(2) | Level 3 | (blank) | (blank) | (blank) |
| Obtaining a licence while disqualified | RTA 1988 s.103(1)(a) | Level 3 | (blank) | (blank) | (blank) |
| Driving while disqualified | RTA 1988 s.103(1)(b) | DIVERGE — (a) England & Wales, summarily: 6 months or level 5; (b) Scotland, summarily: 6 months or statutory maximum; (c) Scotland, on indictment: 12 months or a fine | Discretionary | Obligatory | E&W Summarily: 6 months or level 5 (no indictable route shown in this row)Scot Summarily: 6 months or statutory maximum; or on indictment: 12 months or a fine |
| Using motor vehicle while uninsured | RTA 1988 s.143 | Level 5 | Discretionary | Obligatory | 6–8 |
| Failing to give driver-identity info | RTA 1988 s.172 | Level 3 | Discretionary, conditional (not by virtue of subs.(5)/(11)) | Obligatory, conditional | 6 |
A cell marked (BLANK) in this table is the schedule’s own blank: the source shows no text in that column for that row. It is not a missing value, and it is deliberately not rendered as a dash or a zero — the marker is there so a blank still reads as a blank rather than as a cell that failed to load.
This row differs between England and Wales and Scotland. Both readings are shown; neither is picked for you, and the jurisdiction control does not silently resolve it.
Sourced — legislationRTOA 1988 Sch.2 Pt.Ilegislation.gov.ukSLD current text, fetched 2026-08-02
By subject
Find an offence by subject
The grouping is an editorial choice this site makes for navigation. It is not a sourced legal fact, and several offences genuinely straddle two groups — the payload records each straddle on the row rather than resolving it silently. Each entry jumps to that offence's row in the schedule above; the penalties themselves are stated there, once. Three categories — drink driving, driving without insurance and red light signals — also carry a page of their own, linked from the heading.
Speeding
Dangerous and careless driving
Drink driving
Full page- Driving/attempting to drive unfit through drink or drugsRTA 1988 s.4(1)
- In charge, unfit through drink or drugsRTA 1988 s.4(2)
- Driving/attempting to drive, excess alcoholRTA 1988 s.5(1)(a)
- In charge, excess alcoholRTA 1988 s.5(1)(b)
- Failing to co-operate with a preliminary testRTA 1988 s.6
- Failing to provide specimenRTA 1988 s.7
Drug driving
Seat belts and restraints
Traffic signals
Full pageVehicle condition and equipment
Mobile phones and proper control
Testing and inspection
Licences and documents
Insurance
Full pageThe standard scale
What a “level” is worth
Most maximum fines in the schedule above are expressed as a level. What a level is worth depends on where the offence happened — and, in England and Wales, on when.
The two jurisdictions build this table in genuinely different ways, and the difference is structural rather than numeric. England and Wales use a date-banded table: the statute says that a reference to a level is read against the column that applies to offences committed on the date the offence was committed. Scotland has a single flat table with no date-banding at all. At the current column the two agree on the levels road traffic offences actually use — which is why both are shown in full here rather than merged into one “UK” table that would hide the mechanism.
The historical columns are not decoration. An offence committed years ago is read against the column for its own date, not against today’s, so an old matter can carry a maximum that no longer appears in current commentary. That is the whole reason the statute is written this way, and it is why the earlier columns stay on the page.
These differ by jurisdiction — how the standard scale is structured
England & Wales
Scotland
Sentencing Act 2020 s.122(1)-(2) · Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 s.225(1)-(2)
England & Wales — every column
← swipe to see the whole table →
| Level | Offence committed 11 April 1983 – before 1 May 1984 | Offence committed 1 May 1984 – before 1 October 1992 | Offence committed on/after 1 October 1992 (current) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | £25 | £50 | £200 |
| Level 2 | £50 | £100 | £500 |
| Level 3 | £200 | £400 | £1,000 |
| Level 4 | £500 | £1,000 | £2,500 |
| Level 5 | £1,000 | £2,000 | £5,000 |
Sourced — legislationSentencing Act 2020 s.122(1)-(2)legislation.gov.ukpost-PCSC-Act-2022 text, in force 28.06.2022
Scotland — one table
| Level | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | £200 |
| Level 2 | £500 |
| Level 3 | £1,000 |
| Level 4 | £2,500 |
| Level 5 | £5,000 |
s.225(4)-(7) grant a Secretary of State uprating power "if it appears ... that there has been a change in the value of money" — no uprating order's amounts are in this corpus. s.225(8) separately defines "the prescribed sum" as £10,000 — a distinct concept, never conflated with the standard-scale levels.
Sourced — legislationCriminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 s.225(1)-(2)legislation.gov.ukSLD current text, fetched 2026-08-02
Two official sources disagree
When level 5 became unlimited: two official sources, one day apart
SI 2015/504 art.2
states that the commencing provision came into force on 12 March 2015.
Sentencing Council, fines material
states that level 5 is unlimited for offences committed after 13 March 2015.
It affects only level 5. Every speeding figure on this site is level 3 or level 4 and remains capped either way, so nothing shipped here changes. Neither reading is picked here — both are shown, because choosing one silently would present a decision as a fact.
Guideline maxima
The table a court’s fine calculation is capped by
This is Sentencing Council material, not legislation, and it carries no legislation.gov.uk address. The distinction is preserved rather than smoothed over.
| Level | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | £200 |
| Level 2 | £500 |
| Level 3 | £1,000 |
| Level 4 | £2,500 |
| Level 5 | Unlimited |
Sourced-guideline — Sentencing Council, not legislationSentencing Council, “Approach to the assessment of fines”fetched 2026-08-03
| Band | Starting point | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Band A | 50% | 25–75% |
| Band B | 100% | 75–125% |
| Band C | 150% | 125–175% |
| Band D | 250% | 200–300% |
| Band E | 400% | 300–500% |
| Band F | 600% | 500–700% |
All six bands are the general Sentencing Council scheme. The speeding guideline itself only ever resolves an offence to bands A, B or C — the higher bands exist here because the scheme does, not because speeding reaches them.
Sourced-guideline — Sentencing Council, not legislationSentencing Council, “Approach to the assessment of fines”fetched 2026-08-03
Two provenance classes
Why the source lines above look different
Where this applies. This site answers for England and Wales and for Scotland. It does not answer for Northern Ireland: the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 does not extend there (s.99(7)), and Northern Ireland runs a separate Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order regime that is not among this site’s sources. Figures here are Great Britain figures, not UK-wide ones.