Traffic fines in Portugal: amounts, licence points and how to pay

Minor, serious or very serious: the three offence classes

Almost every breach of the Portuguese highway code (Código da Estrada) is an administrative road offence, a contraordenação, processed by the road-safety authority ANSR (the worst behaviour, such as driving with 1.2 g/l of blood alcohol or without a licence, is a crime and goes to court). The offence's class decides what is at stake¹:

The fine (coima) is the money; the accessory sanction of a driving ban (inibição de conduzir) and the point subtraction belong to serious and very serious offences, and they do not disappear just because the fine is paid quickly.

What speeding costs

The article 27.º, n.º 2 table sets four fine brackets, the same for everyone; what changes is the excess that falls in each bracket, by place and vehicle. For a car or motorcycle¹:

For other motor vehicles (heavy vehicles, tractors) the steps are tighter: 10, 20 and 40 km/h inside localities and 20, 40 and 60 km/h outside. Motorways, expressways and national roads all count as "outside localities".

Two details drivers often get wrong. First, the speed that counts is not the radar reading: it is the considered speed, after the equipment's maximum admissible error is deducted (around 5 to 7 km/h up to 100 km/h and 5% to 7% above that)⁴. Second, the steps outside localities are more forgiving: 120 km/h on a road limited to 90 is still a minor offence, while 90 km/h in a 50 km/h locality is already a serious one.

To pin down your own case, use the speeding fine calculator: it shows the fine, the points and the ban for any speed, limit and vehicle.

The points licence: how it works

Since 2016 the Portuguese driving licence runs on points: every driver starts with 12 points, and offences subtract them¹:

• serious offence: 2 points (3 if it involves driving under the influence of alcohol, using a phone or similar device at the wheel, or overtaking at pedestrian crossings);
• very serious offence: 4 points (5 for alcohol or psychoactive substances);
• road crime: 6 points.

Accumulation has cascading consequences: at 5 or 4 points the driver must attend a road-safety training course; at 3, 2 or 1 the theory driving exam must be retaken; at 0 points the licence is revoked, with a new one only possible after 2 years. In the other direction, every 3-year period without serious or very serious offences and without road crimes gives back 3 points, up to a maximum of 15; voluntary training at licence renewal can take it to 16.

Points can be checked on the Portal das Contraordenações or in the IMT driver area².

Alcohol, phones and the other common fines

Speeding is the most enforced offence, but the heavy fines do not stop there¹:

• Alcohol: between 0.5 and 0.8 g/l of blood alcohol, a fine of €250 to €1,250 (serious, 3 points); between 0.8 and 1.2 g/l, €500 to €2,500 (very serious, 5 points); from 1.2 g/l it is a crime, punishable with up to 1 year in prison and 6 points. For drivers on probation (licensed for under 3 years) and professional drivers, the limit drops to 0.2 g/l.
• Phone at the wheel: using or handling a phone or another device while driving costs €250 to €1,250 and subtracts 3 points (serious). A hands-free system or a single-ear earpiece is the legal exception.
• Excessive speed for the conditions (article 24.º): even inside the limits, driving too fast for the rain, the traffic or the road is a separate offence, serious when it creates danger.

Pay the fine or file a defence

After the notice you have 15 working days to pick one of two paths¹:

1. Pay voluntarily at the bracket minimum, by Multibanco with the ticket's reference, on the Portal das Contraordenações or at a counter. For a minor offence, payment closes the case. For a serious or very serious one, the case continues restricted to the accessory sanction: the driving ban and the points are still decided (article 172.º, n.º 4).
2. File a defence, on the portal or in writing, with facts and evidence. A final decision can still be challenged in court.

For a serious offence, the driving ban's execution can be suspended when the driver has no road crimes and no serious or very serious offences on record in the last 5 years, possibly conditional on training or a bond of €500 to €5,000 (article 141.º). It is the escape valve designed for the first slip of a driver with a clean record.

Not ignoring the notice is rule number one: with no payment and no defence, the amount stops being the minimum and the fine moves to enforced collection, with costs. And beware of scams: ANSR does not collect fines by email or by SMS with payment links³.

Checking fines and points

Pending cases and history are checked on the ANSR Portal das Contraordenações, with gov.pt authentication or the digital mobile key². Licence points show on the same portal and in the IMT driver area. If you drive often, it is worth checking once a year: notices can get lost, and points only come back with a clean record.

Fines are only one part of the cost of running a car: see also the fuel cost calculator and the IUC car tax calculator for the full picture.