The Federal Motor Transport Authority is responsible for recording traffic offences
As early as 1910, a “collection point for information on motor vehicle drivers” was set up at Police Headquarters in Berlin to check driving licences and withdraw them from those guilty of serious road traffic offences. Later, a register of all vehicles on the road was established in Berlin to assist in the task of enforcing safety standards for vehicles and vehicle parts. On 4 August 1951, a new agency – the Federal Motor Transport Authority of the Federal Republic of Germany – was established in Bielefeld to concentrate and perform all the tasks undertaken by its predecessor authorities. Less than a year later, it moved to Flensburg.
After the number of traffic fatalities had more than doubled within a few years of its establishment, the agency moved in 1958 to create the first-ever central register of traffic offenders. As more than 800,000 names were entered on this list in under a year, and the number of annual road deaths continued to rise to over 20,000, the agency decided to introduce a points system for traffic offences in 1974. The points system was modified in 2014, including an extension of the period after which points are deleted. Today, some ten million drivers – amounting to one in five – have been issued with “points in Flensburg”.
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