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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2009-10-29 Daily Xml
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MOTOR VEHICLES (MISCELLANEOUS NO. 2) AMENDMENT BILL

Introduction and First Reading

Received from the House of Assembly and read a first time.

Second Reading

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for State/Local Government Relations, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Consumer Affairs, Minister for Government Enterprises, Minister Assisting the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Energy) (18:12): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading explanation inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

The Motor Vehicles (Miscellaneous No 2) Amendment Bill 2009 amends the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 to further strengthen the South Australian Graduated Licensing Scheme for novice drivers.

It is important to remember that for the vast majority of our young people today, driving is likely to be the riskiest activity they will ever undertake. Each year, nearly 350 young drivers or passengers between the ages of 16 and 24 are killed or severely injured in South Australia. Despite steady falls in South Australia's road toll over the past decade, young drivers continue to be over represented in road trauma statistics.

This Bill builds upon the previous novice driver initiatives introduced by the Rann Government by ensuring that young novice drivers are better prepared for when they graduate to a full licence.

The amendments within this Bill will do the following.

The Bill increases the required hours of supervised driving for learner drivers from 50 to 75 hours

This amendment is overwhelmingly supported by extensive research that suggests that the more time a learner driver spends driving whilst supervised the more experience they gain driving in all conditions, which decreases their likelihood of crashing. While recognising that an increase in supervised hours may result in additional imposition upon families, particularly in our rural areas, we are convinced that the long term road safety benefits outweigh any imposition incurred by sectors of the community.

The Bill increases the minimum time on a learner's permit from 6 to 12 months for drivers aged under 25 years

The most effective and enduring forms of driver training involve gaining substantial and varied on-road driving experience with an appropriate supervising driver. Further, evidence suggests that from age 25 onwards, learner drivers tend to exhibit more mature behaviour on our roads. Therefore the amendments will not apply to drivers who are 25 years or older.

The Bill introduces a restriction on driving high powered cars for provisional drivers (both P1 and P2) aged under 25 years

Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland have all introduced high powered vehicle restrictions for their provisional drivers in recent years and our scheme will be aligned with those operating in other jurisdictions. The restrictions will apply to all provisional drivers (i.e. both P1 and P2) who are under 25 years of age, however transitional provisions will be in place. Exemptions recognise that there will be individual situations where compliance with the ban will make life very difficult for some provisional drivers. I stress however that an exemption will be not be automatic.

An exemption may be granted; if a high powered vehicle is the only vehicle available to the driver; if the driver owned a high powered vehicle before the ban came into effect; or if required as part of the driver's employment. A person's driving history will also be considered. If granted, the driver will be required to carry the exemption certificate at all times when driving the high powered vehicle. Failure to immediately present the exemption certificate to a Police Officer, when requested, will result in the driver incurring 3 demerit points and an expiation fee of $250.

Drivers will have to apply to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles for the exemption. The grounds for exemption and process to apply for an exemption will be placed in the Regulations.

The Bill changes the penalty for the failure to display two P plates from disqualification to a fine and loss of demerit points

Currently, failure to display any P plates is a breach of licence conditions and results in licence disqualification. This penalty is regarded within the community as too severe. This Bill makes failure to display any plates an offence with a penalty of $1,250 (the same as for breaching a condition of licence or permit). It is intended to introduce an expiation fee of $250 and apply two demerit points to this offence. If the vehicle is not a motor bike and only one plate is missing, the expiation fee will only be $125 and no demerit points will be incurred. For consistency, the same change has been made to the learner's permit provisions.

The Bill replaces the current hardship appeal provision with the offer of a Safer Driver Agreement

The current hardship appeal provision for provisional drivers who are disqualified because they contravene a condition of their licence or incur 4 or more demerit points will be replaced with an offer of a Safer Driver Agreement. It will not be available to those provisional drivers who receive a disqualification for a serious disqualification offence - the option to appeal a licence disqualification to the Magistrates Court on the basis of hardship will continue to apply to these drivers.

By choosing the Safer Driver Agreement, the disqualified driver would avoid the six month disqualification, but would regress to a previous licence stage and further, agrees not to breach a condition of their licence or incur 4 or more demerit points during the term of the Safer Driver Agreement. Any breach of the Safer Driver Agreement would result in disqualification for 12 months with no right of appeal. A Safer Driver Agreement would only be available to provisional drivers once in a five year period.

The Bill strengthens the current curfew conditions applying to drivers returning from a serious disqualification offence by restricting the carriage of passengers during the curfew period of midnight to 5am

Currently, a novice driver who returns from a disqualification for committing a serious disqualification offence is automatically subject to a curfew (for a period of 12 months) between the hours of midnight to 5am, unless accompanied by a Qualified Supervising Driver. This amendment strengthens the current condition by further providing that during the curfew period the novice driver must not carry any passengers apart from the Qualified Supervising Driver. This condition aims to minimise the elevated risks of night time driving and driving with passengers for these novice drivers.

In addition to these improvements to the Graduated Licensing Scheme, the Bill contains a number of amendments of a technical or administrative nature designed to improve the operation of the Act. They include:

Upon gaining a provisional licence, the driver's learner's permit will be cancelled regardless of its expiry date. This was previously only implied in the legislation.

The legislative requirement for police to conduct an annual check of driver's licences has been removed. This recognises that the checking of drivers licences is a continuous police activity, made possible by advances in technology e.g. mobile real time computer terminals in every marked SAPOL vehicle. A corresponding amendment to the Road Traffic Act provides for the checking of driver's licences to be combined with any random testing activity undertaken by SAPOL.

Accumulated demerit points will be reinstated in the event of a successful appeal against disqualification. Currently, every full licence holder has a limit of twelve demerit points within a three year period before they are subject to licence disqualification. Upon disqualification, all accumulated demerit points are erased. If an appeal is initiated against the disqualification and is successful, this amendment will ensure that only the demerit points related to the offence in question are erased.

Legislation currently specifies that it is an offence to unlawfully alter or damage a licence or learner's permit, but it is often difficult to prove who actually caused the damage to the licence/permit. To assist SAPOL's enforcement, an additional offence has been created for being in possession of a licence or permit that has been altered or damaged.

An amendment is made to increase the period within which a prosecution can be commenced for the offence of providing false and misleading information from two years to five years with the authorisation of the Attorney-General. Fraudulent licenses can be used for a wide range of purposes including by persons who wish to continue to drive when their legitimate licence has been cancelled of suspended. As driver's licenses can be issued for up to 10 years it is considered necessary to extend the prosecution period for this offence.

It is currently an offence to drive a vehicle with an expired registration label. If a person has paid for the vehicle registration but does not receive the new label before the old label expires, and continues to display the expired registration label, they could be fined. An amendment is being made to provide a defence to this offence, which will specify that the owner has 30 days to affix the new label.

The Bill also provides that provisional and probationary driver's licence holders and learner's permit holders who allow their licence or permit to expire and are then disqualified, face the same consequences as a driver who remains properly licensed and then is disqualified.

These amendments will improve the Graduated Licensing Scheme and the effective operation and administration of the Motor Vehicles Act.

In conclusion, this Bill demonstrates the Government's commitment to saving young lives on the road by equipping novice drivers with the skills and experience to drive safety.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

3—Amendment provisions

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Motor Vehicles Act 1959

4—Amendment of section 5—Interpretation

This clause makes consequential amendments to certain definitions in the Act and inserts a new definition of high powered vehicle (consequentially to proposed section 81A(16)).

5—Amendment of section 53—Offences in connection with registration labels and permits

This clause inserts a new defence to the offence of driving, or leaving to stand on a road, a vehicle with an expired registration label or permit.

6—Amendment of section 74—Duty to hold licence or learner's permit

This clause corrects a minor drafting error in subsection (2a) and clarifies the application of the disqualification under subsection (5).

7—Amendment of section 75AAA—Term of licence and surrender

This clause amends section 75AAA to make it clear that a licence is cancelled on surrender to the Registrar.

8—Amendment of section 75AA—Only 1 licence to be held at any time

This clause amends section 75AA to specify that the Registrar must not issue a licence to a person who already holds a licence and to make changes consequential to the new definition of interstate licence.

9—Substitution of section 75A

This clause substitutes a new section 75A as follows:

75A—Learner's permit

This proposed section provides for the Registrar to issue learner's permits, their expiry, conditions and renewal. The section is substantially similar to the current section 75A, however the structure and numbering has been updated and the requirement to display an 'L' plate is no longer a condition of the permit (although failure to display 'L' plates will still be an offence). The section also includes amendments to clarify the position in relation to persons who already hold a licence, or provisional licence, for another kind of motor vehicle than that for which they require a learner's permit.

10—Amendment of section 79—Examination of applicant for licence or learner's permit

This clause amends section 79 to include reference to persons who have previously held interstate learner's permits and to deal with disqualifications occurring interstate.

11—Amendment of section 79A—Driving experience

This clause amends section 79A to change requirements relating to learner drivers under the age of 25. Currently the section requires a person to have held a learner's permit for 9 months (in the case of a person who has previously been disqualified from holding a learner's permit for an offence committed while the holder of a learner's permit) or for 6 months (in any other case). For young drivers these will be increased to 15 months and 12 months respectively. In addition the section is amended to include references to interstate licences and interstate learner's permits and to deal with disqualification occurring interstate.

12—Substitution of section 81A

This clause substitutes a new section 81A as follows:

81A—Provisional licences

This proposed section provides for the Registrar to issue provisional licences (P1 and P2) and the conditions that attach to such licences. The proposed section is substantially similar to the current section 81A, however the structure and numbering has been updated and the requirement for a P1 driver to display a 'P' plate is no longer a condition of the licence (although failure to display 'P' plates will still be an offence). The proposed section also introduces new restrictions relating to high powered vehicles and alters the driving curfew for the holder of the P1 licence who has previously been disqualified from driving for a serious disqualification offence (the definition of which is also amended to include serious offences occurring under the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935), to ensure that no passengers, other than a person acting as a qualified supervising driver, may be present in the vehicle during the curfew hours.

13—Amendment of section 81AB—Probationary licences

This clause proposes to add to the circumstances in which a person must be subject to probationary licence conditions. These circumstances are proposed to include disqualification under section 81D (disqualification for certain drug driving offences) and other offences resulting in disqualification committed while the person was not authorised to drive a motor vehicle on a road under the Motor Vehicles Act 1959.

14—Substitution of section 81B

This clause deletes section 81B and substitutes the following:

81B—Consequences of holder of learner's permit, provisional licence or probationary licence contravening conditions etc

This proposed section is equivalent to subsections (2) to (4) and (12) of the current section 81B.

81BA—Safer Driver Agreements

This clause provides that a person holding a provisional licence who is given a notice of disqualification under section 81B may, in lieu of being disqualified from driving, enter into a Safer Driver Agreement.

81BB—Appeals to Magistrates Court

This clause provides for an appeal to the Magistrates Court in relation to a notice of disqualification given, or liable to be given, under section 81B in relation to an offence or offences committed by a person while the holder of a provisional or probationary licence. The clause is substantially the same as the previous right of appeal provided for under the current section 81B but allows the Crown to submit evidence (which may be in writing) as to previous offences relating to the appellant's use of a motor vehicle and, in such a case, the Court may only allow the appeal if satisfied that such evidence does not indicate that the appellant is a substantial risk to himself or herself or to other members of the public.

15—Redesignation of section 81BA—Consequences of holder of unconditional licence incurring demerit points in respect of offences committed while holder of provisional licence

This clause redesignates section 81BA as section 81BC.

16—Amendment of section 91—Effect of suspension and disqualification

This clause clarifies the effect of the provision where a person holds an unconditional licence to which the relevant disqualification does not apply in accordance with section 81B(4).

17—Amendment of section 97A—Visiting motorists

This clause amends section 97A to make any conditions on an interstate licence or learner's permit, imposed in the jurisdiction where issued, applicable in this State and enforceable as if they were imposed under the Motor Vehicles Act 1959. This clause also amends section 97A to make changes consequential to the new definition of interstate licence.

18—Repeal of section 98

This clause repeals section 98 (which requires the Commissioner of Police, on an annual basis, to take steps to check whether people are driving unlicensed).

19—Amendment of section 98AAE—Licence or learner's permit unlawfully altered or damaged is void

This clause increases the maximum fine for the existing offence of wilfully altering, defacing or damaging a licence or learner's permit from $750 to $2,500. The clause also introduces a new offence of possessing, without lawful authority, a licence or learner's permit that has been wilfully altered, defaced or damaged and this new offence carries a maximum penalty of a fine of $2,500.

20—Amendment of section 98BC—Liability to disqualification

This clause amends section 98BC to make amendments consequential to the new definition of interstate licence and to make other technical amendments.

21—Amendment of section 98BD—Notices to be sent by Registrar

This clause amends section 98BD(2) which details the notice that is to be given by the Registrar to a person liable to be disqualified from driving under section 98BC. The clause requires the notice to include references to a learner's permit.

22—Amendment of section 98BE—Disqualification and discounting of demerit points

This clause makes an amendment consequential to clause 23 and amends an incorrect cross reference.

23—Insertion of section 98BF

This clause inserts a new section 98BF as follows:

98BF—Effect of appeal or rehearing on disqualification and discounting

This proposed new section provides that, on an appeal or an application for a rehearing for a conviction resulting in disqualification, the disqualification will be inoperative until the appeal or application is determined or withdrawn and provides for the reinstatement of any demerit points for other offences that were discounted under section 98BE(5) if, after an appeal or rehearing, the person is determined not to be disqualified.

24—Amendment of section 98BI—Notification of demerit points to interstate licensing authorities

This clause is consequential to the new definition of interstate licence.

25—Amendment of section 135—False statements

This clause amends section 135 to increase the maximum fine for an offence of furnishing a statement under the Act that is false or misleading in a material particular to a maximum of $5,000. The clause also inserts a new subclause that allows a prosecution to be commenced within 5 years with the authorisation of the Attorney-General.

26—Amendment of section 139D—Confidentiality

This clause amends section 139D to remove an out of date reference to the Road Traffic Act 1961.

27—Amendment of section 141—Evidence by certificate etc

This clause amends section 141 to include in the list of matters that may be certified by the Registrar that a person was, or was not, on a specified day, the holder of an exemption under section 81A(16).

28—Repeal of section 144

This clause repeals section 144 (which limits the time within which proceedings for an offence against this Act must be commenced).

Schedule 1—Related amendments and transitional provisions

Part 1—Related amendment to Road Traffic Act 1961

1—Amendment of section 47EA—Exercise of random testing powers

This clause amends section 47EA of the Road Traffic Act 1961 to insert a new subsection (2) giving a police officer, who has stopped a motor vehicle in the exercise of random testing powers, power to delay the driver of the vehicle for the purpose of conducting a licence check.

Part 2—Transitional provisions

2—Interpretation

This clause provides that a reference to the principal Act is a reference to the Motor Vehicles Act 1959.

3—Learner's permits in force immediately before commencement

This clause provides that , subject to clause 4, the changes made by clause 9 and clause 11 of the measure do not apply to a learner's permit in force before the commencement of the measure.

4—Requirement to display L plate

This clause provides that the new requirements in relation to display of L plates will apply to learner's permits in force before commencement of the measure.

5—Provisional licences in force immediately before commencement

This clause provides that, subject to clause 6, the changes made by clause 12 of the measure do not apply to a provisional licence in force before the commencement of the measure.

6—Requirement to display P plate

This clause provides that the new requirements in relation to display of P plates will apply to P1 licences in force before commencement of the measure.

7—High powered vehicle restrictions inapplicable to some provisional licences issued after commencement

This clause provides that the proposed section 81A(16) (which prohibits a holder of a P1 or P2 licence who is under the age of 25 from driving a high powered vehicle) will not apply to a person who holds a P2 licence issued after the commencement of the proposed new section if, immediately before being issued with the P2 licence, that person held a P1 licence that was issued before the commencement of the proposed new section.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. R.D. Lawson.

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