Page 1157 - Week 03 - Thursday, 31 March 2011
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those requirements involve the same level of experience or competence as an ACT full driver licence holder. Therefore, the safest approach is to place foreign drivers from unrecognised countries in the same category as provisional drivers and subject them to a zero alcohol limit.
The bill amends the provisions for taking blood samples to include the option of taking a blood sample from a driver at a sampling facility. A sampling facility is a place prescribed by regulations where a blood sample may be taken by a doctor or a nurse. It may be a police station or even a specially equipped police vehicle, as occurs in other jurisdictions.
At present, the act requires all drivers who need to give a blood sample to be taken to a hospital for this procedure. This requirement places pressure on resources at emergency departments because samples must be taken from drivers within two hours after the person last drove the vehicle. So priority has to be given to taking the sample even if the driver is otherwise uninjured.
The amendments do not change the requirement for a blood sample to be taken by a doctor or a nurse. That requirement still applies whether the blood test is carried out at a hospital or a sampling facility.
In addition to relieving pressure on hospital staff, the amendment may reduce the amount of time drivers spend in police custody because it means that drivers who require blood tests will not need to be transported between the hospital and a police station. The option of having a blood test at a sampling facility may also provide greater privacy for drivers when they undergo testing than is available in a hospital emergency department.
The bill contains a series of amendments to replace references to “public street” and “public place” with “road” and “road related area”. “Road” and “road related area” are the terms used in the ACT road transport legislation and national transport legislation, including the various model acts drafted by the National Transport Commission and the Australian road rules. The definitions of “road” and “road related area” are not completely co-extensive with the definitions of “public street” and “public place” but the difference between the two is covered by a determination made under section 12 of the Road Transport (General) Act. That provision confers on the relevant minister a power to determine that an area is a road-related area for the purposes of the road transport legislation.
If there are any additional areas that need to be covered, a further determination could be made. The bill also includes a specific regulation-making power to prescribe areas as road-related areas for the purpose of the Road Transport (Alcohol and Drugs) Act.
The current act provides for persons to be taken into custody for the purposes of alcohol or drug testing. Significantly, when persons are in custody for testing under the act, in most cases they are not under arrest for an offence. This means that the usual suite of police powers in relation to arrested persons does not apply to them. Nevertheless, as they are persons in police custody, the police owe duty of care to them, including for any time while they are being transported to and from police
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