Infrastructure Minister Rene Hidding will ask the Road Safety Advisory Council to evaluate how effective double demerits have been in other states, his spokesman said yesterday.

‘‘The coming year will see the start of work on the next 10-year Tasmanian Road Safety Strategy,’’ he said.

‘‘The government expects that all measures, including this one, to be considered in the development of that new strategy.’’

In opposition, Mr Hidding was a strong advocate of the double-demerits system which is used in New South Wales and Western Australia during peak holiday periods.

Both mainland governments claim the schemes drastically improved safety on their roads.

For example, NSW has stated in the past that double demerits reduced crash rates by up to 25 per cent.

But Professor Max Cameron, of Monash University Accident Research Centre, said he was not persuaded that double-demerit points actually worked.

‘‘I’ve seen evidence of WA’s double-demerit scheme and I’m yet to be convinced that is is effective,’’ he said. Professor Cameron said double demerits were the ‘‘cheaper and easy’’ option, and instead called on Tasmania to ‘‘use speed cameras more vigorously’’.

‘‘The trouble with some states, and I think Tasmania is one of them, is a trend to apologise for enforcing speed limits,’’ he said.

‘‘The other significant thing is what Tasmania could with its poor-quality roads – it should reduce speed limits to 90km/h.’’

Road Safety Advisory Council chairman Jim Cox said he was yet to see reliable evidence that double demerits worked.

RACT roadside and technical general manager Darren Moody would only back an evidence-based move to the scheme.

‘‘It might be worth considering a trial,’’ he said.

The Police Association of Tasmania does not favour double-demerit schemes but said it would consider backing a doubling of fines.