Page 5236 - Week 12 - Thursday, 28 October 2010
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The changes to a zero BAC for special drivers and to persons instructing learner drivers will be widely publicised to ensure that affected drivers, parents and driving instructors are aware of the new laws.
As mentioned earlier, a key purpose of these reforms is to send the message that there are serious consequences if a person is caught drink driving. One of the obvious deterrents to drink driving is the potential for a drink-driving conviction to result in loss of access to a driver licence. The review of the drink-driving laws indicated that existing ACT provisions are relatively lenient compared with interstate practice in terms of enabling convicted drink drivers to continue to drive.
Under current laws, while persons who are convicted of drink driving are liable to serve a period of licence disqualification, restricted licences, sometimes known as work licences, can be applied for by some persons convicted of drink driving, to enable them to continue to drive during a period of licence disqualification. The court, in granting a restricted licence, must be satisfied that exceptional circumstances exist to justify the grant of the licence.
It is evident that a substantial number of ACT drink drivers, including offenders with previous drink-driving convictions, are successful in persuading the court that their circumstances are exceptional and are obtaining a restricted licence—558 of these licences were issued in 2008-09. Of the approximately 1,500 people charged each year with drink driving, it would seem that around a third of them are being granted a restricted licence, rather than serving any period of licence disqualification.
It is critical to deterring drink driving that the community understands that drink-drive offenders will face appropriate consequences for their actions, including loss of the privilege of using the roads for a period of time. The rate of dispensation of restricted licences has contributed to a view in the community that a drink-driving conviction will not necessarily mean the loss of access to a driver licence.
The approach taken in this bill is to allow an application for a restricted licence only in circumstances where it is possible that a person has made an honest and genuine mistake. To achieve this, the definition of “repeat offender” has been amended. Currently a repeat offender cannot apply for a restricted licence. However, presently, the definition of “repeat offender” only applies to a person who has had a drink-driving conviction in the past five years.
The changes made by the bill will mean that a person will be a repeat offender if that person has been convicted or found guilty of a drink-driving offence at any time, no matter how long ago. A person will also be a repeat offender where two drink-driving charges are dealt with concurrently. Consequently, in the future, only genuine first offenders will be eligible to apply for a restricted licence.
Further, the bill provides that only low-range first offenders will be able to apply for a restricted licence. If the offender has a BAC which is .05 or more higher than the BAC limit for that person, he or she will not be able to apply for a restricted licence. This means that a special driver who records a BAC of .05 or more or a full licence
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