The ACT introduced points system around the early 1990's and moved to penalty units in 1994, as of 2013 the Attorney-General must review the amount of a penalty unit at least once every 4 years. Penalty information is in the Road Transport (Offences) Regulation 2005 (SL2005-11) and was previously in the Road Transport (Offences) Regulations 2001 No 20
Rule 270(1)(a)
Rule 270(1)(b)
Rule 270(2)
Motor bike rider no helmet/fitted/adjusted
Motor bike passenger no helmet/fitted/adjusted (rider)
Motor bike passenger no helmet/fitted/adjusted
All 3 offences are the same $ value but only 270(1)(a) and 270(1)(b) are demerit point offences.
Offence descriptions and meanings have become distorted over time. Originally the descriptions and details were included in the road rules or traffic acts and so the meanings were clear.
The volume of offences and the number of officials who needed access to the information increased and so the penalties and descriptions were moved to separate legislation and the practice of using "short descriptions" in the penalty legislation began.
This now means the infringement notices as issued may mean other than what they state. The offence and penalty legislation have clauses which state in effect that the short description means the same as the long description contained in the regulations.
Notes
Motorcycle helmet offences are not a category in the Australian Bureau of Statistics system unlike bicycle helmets.
The ACT like many States fail to recognise separate proscribed offences with differing levels of penalty are needed or that visor offences should be a minor defect notice rather than a fine as per car windscreen tinting.
Use of the defect system means the ACCC can be alerted to retailers selling visors not complying to standards.