Page 3949 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 23 October 1990
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MOTOR TRAFFIC (AMENDMENT) BILL (NO. 6) 1990
Debate resumed.
MRS NOLAN (9.29): Mr Speaker, I too am pleased to support this Bill to amend the Motor Traffic Act 1936 to increase the fines for traffic infringements. I wonder how many members in the house know how much it costs you today if you are booked for not wearing a seat belt. At present you will pay only $40. This is certainly not large enough to have any great effect on the irresponsible or thoughtless driver. Perhaps, more importantly, it is not large enough to make drivers more responsible towards their passengers. Drivers are responsible for ensuring that any passenger under 14 years of age is restrained in a seat belt or child restraint. The present $40 fine is unlikely to make irresponsible drivers more vigilant in keeping their young passengers restrained.
I am pleased to see that at last fines for traffic infringements are going somewhere near those in New South Wales, although there certainly is still some way to go, as Mr Stefaniak mentioned a little earlier. It is hoped that this Bill, with its increased penalty of $70 for this offence, will provide some deterrent and make drivers more responsible towards the safety of their passengers and themselves. This increase from $40 to $70 does no more than return the penalty to its 1983 level when on-the-spot fines were introduced. These penalties have not been increased since 1983.
Speeding fines too are too low in the ACT. There are far too many people in the ACT who speed habitually. Knowing that the highest fine you can receive at present is $80 is unlikely to deter the worst offenders. The new fine of $130 may be more effective. As I mentioned a little earlier, Mr Speaker, the new speeding fines in the ACT are still considerably lower than those in New South Wales, where fines for exceeding the speed limit have been increased disproportionately to other traffic offences. On-the-spot fines for speeding in New South Wales range from $81 to $750, depending on the speed and type of vehicle. Heavy vehicles such as trucks and buses are the hardest hit in New South Wales for speeding offences. Under this Bill speeding fines will range from $70 for exceeding the speed limit by no more than 15 kilometres per hour to $130 for exceeding the speed limit by more than 30 kilometres per hour.
Let me now provide you, Mr Speaker, with a few other examples of the new fines under this Bill: being booked for going the wrong way down a one-way street, driving in a bus lane or failing to dip your headlights will cost you $80. Overtaking on the left-hand side of a vehicle or failing to make way for an emergency vehicle will attract a fine of $100, while disobeying a "stop" or "give way" sign will cost you $130.
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