Page 2432 - Week 08 - Thursday, 6 August 2015
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from providing information about registered vehicles by a court process of discovery for the purpose of a car park operator charging car park fees. We will not be supporting that amendment.
I will turn first to the offence of drinking alcohol while driving. The new offence of drinking alcohol while driving a vehicle amends the Road Transport (Alcohol and Drugs) Act to include a new strict liability offence for consuming alcohol while driving. This is a piece of legislation probably that many people thought already existed. It is certainly not logical that when sending a message to drivers about not drinking and driving it would be legal to drink whilst driving. This amendment supports all the road safety messages about responsible driving, including the “drink or drive” road safety message.
I turn to another aspect of the bill, relating to burnouts. Canberrans who suffer the noise, disruption and danger caused by “hoon” behaviour in motor vehicles will be pleased to see that this amendment has been brought into law. The problem in the past has been that this sort of driving has been defined by describing the types of driving activities—for example, burnouts, handbrake turns, wheelies, drifting and J-turns. The new clause 17 replaces the existing definition of burnout with a definition of “improper use of a motor vehicle”. The content of the definition has not been substantially altered and continues to refer to operating the vehicle in a way that causes the vehicle to undergo sustained loss of traction by one or more of the vehicle’s wheels. We will be supporting this aspect.
There is a clause that exempts police recruits undergoing driver training from having to comply with specified aspects of the road transport legislation. This allows police recruits to receive necessary driver training which involves departure from the road rules. This allows them to be trained in the same way as sworn officers are without breaking the law.
There is a clause that allows for seizure of vehicles by notice to surrender. ACT police officers can currently seize and impound a motor vehicle if an officer believes that the vehicle is being or has been used by a person in committing any of certain specified offences. This bill provides a power for an ACT police officer, who believes on reasonable grounds that a vehicle is being or has been used in committing a relevant offence, to issue a surrender notice to the responsible person for the vehicle.
The amendments essentially support greater efficiency for police as they will not be required to arrange for the towing of a seized vehicle immediately, nor remain with the vehicle until it has been towed away. They will not have to account for and make inventories of all property in the seized vehicle. It will also make it substantially easier for those who are surrendering their vehicle. I think it is a positive outcome.
There is a provision to allow for an alternative verdict for the offence of culpable driving of a motor vehicle. This amendment will enable a finding of guilty for a lesser driving offence where a court is not satisfied that the offence of culpable driving is made out. It provides an opportunity for an alternative verdict for someone charged but not found guilty of culpable driving.
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