Page 1757 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 18 August 1992
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I welcome the introduction of evidentiary certificates into the court system, which will assure the community and the courts that radar equipment being used by police is regularly tested and will prevent the delays outlined by the Minister for Urban Services, Mr Connolly, in his opening address. Delays have meant that a New South Wales expert needed to be called in on every occasion the radar speed measuring device's accuracy was called into question. I am sure that the financial resources of the ACT police, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Attorney-General's Department, or whoever paid for this advice, can be better directed.
I turn, finally, to the issue of child restraints and welcome the redrafting of these sections, which will ensure that no child or young person shall be allowed to travel in a vehicle without proper restraints. The message will be clear that, from now on, the law will state that if you want to carry children or young people in a vehicle they must travel in safety appropriate to their needs. The proposed new section 164D clearly sets out the intent of the amendment quantifying expectations that a child or young person should travel in the safest position in the vehicle. Again, I urge the Government to conduct a public awareness campaign which will stress that it no longer accepts that children should be put at risk when travelling in cars, trucks, utilities or other vehicles. There are still exceptions, including taxis, hire cars, buses, and cars that are exempted from having the appropriate bolts fitted, interstate vehicles where such laws are not in force, and Commonwealth vehicles.
The Motor Traffic Act is one piece of legislation that will constantly need attention due to the changing nature of traffic on our roads and the need to make our roadways safe for all who use them. I commend the Government for their efforts in making these new sections of the law clear and understandable. I remind the Government again of the need for a public awareness campaign to follow these changes that is both wide-reaching and targeted at specific groups in the interests of improving road safety for all of us.
MR MOORE (4.21): This amending Bill will benefit people in the ACT, particularly children and the way they are carried. I find it interesting that the Bill provides that children be carried in the back seat. It has always been a matter of contention in my own family that the children always think the ideal thing is to be travelling in the front seat. The one concern I have is that there are times when children are not feeling well, particularly travelling on winding roads back from Namadgi National Park or somewhere like that, and there is an advantage in being able to sit in the front. I suppose the solution is to carry Kwell tablets. However, I think the safety of children under these circumstances is paramount, and the legislation will actually make the job a little easier for parents who say, "No, sorry, you cannot sit in the front; it is against the law".
In my first reading of this I felt that there might be a further problem. To say that a 14- or 15-year-old could not sit in the front of a car seemed extraordinarily ridiculous. Indeed, the legislation has recognised that, because the definition of a child goes to the age of eight. I think that is most appropriate. The resolution of the issue in terms of suitable child restraints in a vehicle is most appropriate.
The only other issue that I guess parents will consider, and in fact it should come out in the publicity, is when a parent takes three or four children to soccer or basketball. The front seat then becomes usable because the other seats are occupied. It is important that it be understood that, on my reading of the Bill,
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