Page 3666 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 23 November 2022
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dangers of speeding, there remain a portion of road users who do not use the roads in a responsible way and who endanger the lives of other road users. This bill expands the current immediate licence suspension framework to give police the power to apply an immediate licence suspension where a person is found to be speeding by more than 45 kilometres per hour over the speed limit. A person’s licence will be subject to disqualification, where convicted of this offence by the courts. Police may also seize and impound a vehicle where they believe this offence has occurred.
The bill I am introducing today also seeks to address hooning behaviour by strengthening police enforcement tools. Hooning behaviour, such as street racing, attempts on speed records and speed trials, is extremely dangerous behaviour. Hooning endangers the lives of both drivers and other road users and can have tragic consequences for the people impacted. Police enforcement can be difficult, due to the nature of the activities, particularly where it occurs in remote areas away from the city.
The current legislative framework does not allow a police officer to stop a person from driving, even when they are a repeat offender and continue to break the law. ACT Policing have advised that there have been instances where a person has been pulled over and charged with a street racing offence, only for the same person to again be observed committing the same offence within a short time period. Clearly, the current penalty for this offence, which carries a maximum of 20 penalty units, does not reflect the seriousness of this offence and is not sufficient to achieve its objective of protecting road users and deterring repeat offending.
To address this, the bill amends section 5A of the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999 so that the street racing offence attracts a new maximum penalty option of up to 100 penalty units and 12 months imprisonment for repeat or aggravated offenders. The maximum penalty for this behaviour for a first or non-aggravated offence has also been increased from 20 to 50 penalty units and the traffic infringement notice penalty from $492 to $700. These changes will amend ACT penalties to be more closely in alignment with other jurisdictions. Currently, the ACT is one of only two jurisdictions where courts are unable to impose imprisonment for this offence.
A term of imprisonment would be applied to the most serious incidents or where a person repeatedly disregards the law. An option for imprisonment is appropriate, given that this behaviour can lead to serious long-term injuries or death. The bill also amends the existing legislation to increase the range of offences that would result in a dangerous driving offender being classified as a repeat or aggravated offender and therefore subject to higher penalties.
Repeatedly engaging in these behaviours demonstrates that a person has failed to learn from their actions and has continued to behave in a manner less than the standard expected by the community. The current definition of a repeat offender in section 5AB of the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999 does not adequately capture and disincentivise recidivist behaviour.
The new offences that will classify a person as a repeat offender include culpable driving, street racing, attempts on speed records, speed trials, improper use of a motor vehicle, menacing driving, speeding more than 45 kilometres over the speed limit and
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