Motorists convicted of driving offences will now have their slate wiped clean after receiving a driving ban, making the demerit point system more fair and in line with legislation in the UK.

On Friday, the House of Assembly unanimously passed amendments to the Traffic Offence Penalties Act to change parts of the original bill, which were condemned as a "manifest injustice" by the Court of Appeal.

In Bermuda each traffic conviction results in two to 12 demerit points being added to a person's record. Every two years the slate is wiped clean. If an individual accumulates 12 points during a two-year period, their driving licence is revoked.

However, under the previous law drivers who were banned for an offence did not have their points wiped clean. Moreover, they could receive a ban and points, meaning they were punished twice.

Friday's amendments mean unexpired demerit points will be expunged when a driver becomes disqualified; and when someone is convicted of a number of offences on the same occasion, he or she only gets demerit points for one of them — unless the Court decides additional points are necessary

This avoids the situation where a person could in effect be disqualified twice for the same offence by receiving a ban and having demerit points added to their record and count towards another disqualification if they are convicted of a minor offence in the future.

Meanwhile, the fine for driving an unlicensed vehicle will double from $1,000 to $2,000; and demerit points and qualification penalties will be added for driving without insurance.

The debate over demerit points began soon after a new Electronic Vehicle Registration system came online in July 1 last year to crack down on unlicensed and uninsured motorists.

Some drivers were caught driving through the cameras multiple times over a short period of time leading to enormous fines and numerous points being imposed upon them.

After one driver successfully got his $19,500 fine and six month ban reduced to a $4,125 fine and no ban, the Court of Appeal branded the new system unfair. It also accused Bermuda's lawmakers of failing to think through the consequences of the new legislation.

In the House, Premier Ewart Brown said the amendments were being tabled because the Government was of the view that was unfair to penalise people twice. And he said the new amendments would assist the Transport Control Department and Magistrates' Court in implementing the demerit points system.

Deputy Opposition Leader Trevor Moniz said he supported the amendments and was pleased to see they were similar to those in the UK.

The Bermuda Democratic Party's Shaun Crockwell, who has spoken out several times regarding flaws in the previous law, said he was happy with the amendments as they reflected the Appeals Court ruling.

Opposition MP John Barritt said he believed no-one in the House had been aware of the potential outcomes, and injustices, when the law was initially passed and was pleased to see the amendments were correcting the flaws.