Page 1544 - Week 05 - Thursday, 15 May 2014
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The bill will also potentially assist by providing a greater deterrent for this type of dangerous behaviour, as the new higher maximum penalty will apply where a person is a repeat offender.
The aggravating factors for the offence which are introduced by this bill are: failing to comply with a request or signal given by a police officer to stop the vehicle; driving while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs; driving at a speed that exceeds the speed limit by more than 30 per cent; driving with a person younger than 17 years old in the vehicle; driving in a way that puts at risk the safety of a vulnerable road user; or being a repeat offender.
The aggravated factors introduced by the bill have been chosen on the basis that the circumstances involved represent a greater risk to the road-using community than dangerous driving offences where those factors are not present. The one exception to this was the aggravating factor where the driver is a repeat offender. This has been included to discourage offenders from repeating their dangerous conduct and to ensure that there is an appropriate sanction available if they do not.
The aggravating factor of failing to comply with a request or a signal given by a police officer to stop the vehicle addresses the risk posed by drivers who seek to evade police. Driving while evading police represents a greater road safety risk due to the common practice of such drivers travelling at high or unsafe speeds whilst also driving erratically and disobeying traffic signals or lights.
Driving while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs is an aggravating factor due to the increased risk posed by drivers driving whilst intoxicated. This behaviour has been clearly established and recognised as a road safety risk. This is reflected in the serious penalties that apply to persons who are convicted of a drug or drink-driving offence.
The aggravating factor of excessive speeding has been included, given the risk posed by those who drive at high speed. Excessive speeding has been identified in the bill as exceeding the speed limit by more than 30 per cent. This flexible measure reflects the actual risk posed by the speeding driver. For instance, a driver driving furiously, recklessly or dangerously through a 40 kilometres-an-hour school zone at 60 kilometres an hour potentially poses more of a risk to the community than a driver driving 140 kilometres an hour on a 100 kilometres-an-hour road. The 30 per cent measure would see the threshold applied at 52 kilometres an hour in a 40 kilometres-an-hour zone, above 78 kilometres an hour in a 60 kilometres-an-hour zone and above 104 kilometres an hour in an 80 kilometres-an-hour zone.
The aggravating factor of driving with a person younger than 17 years old in the vehicle at the time when the offence was committed reflects that, unlike adult passengers, a child cannot consent to involvement in reckless driving. Furthermore, children are potentially more vulnerable to injury. Older children are also potentially impressionable and may be liable to come to regard the offending driving behaviour as normal or acceptable and perpetuate this in their own driving behaviour.
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