Page 2346 - Week 08 - Thursday, 5 August 2021
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disfigurement and severe head injuries, will continue to be covered by the existing negligent driving occasioning grievous bodily harm offence.
These are the types of harm most commonly experienced by vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians because they do not have the protection of a vehicle. Vulnerable road users make up a significant share of those who are injured on Canberra’s roads. Initial analysis of 2020 crash statistics indicates that two fatalities and 190 injuries involved vulnerable road users. This represents 29 per cent of fatalities and 31 per cent of injuries on our roads in 2020. Nearly 25 per cent of all casualties admitted to hospital following a road accident in 2020 were cyclists or pedestrians. We suspect there are many more injuries that happen across Canberra each year and do not get reported or result in drivers being penalised.
We want all road users to understand and take seriously their obligations to be safe on the road and behave in ways that minimise risk to others. That includes looking out for cyclists and pedestrians, observing appropriate passing distances, slowing down in pedestrian areas as well as always driving to the road and weather conditions.
The new offence proposed in this bill will ensure that there are serious consequences if road users cause harm to someone else because they did not take appropriate care. This will benefit vulnerable road users while also strengthening protections for any other Canberran injured on our roads.
The new offence of negligent driving occasioning actual bodily harm will complement the existing negligent and dangerous driving offences in the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999. The offence has been developed following consultation with a range of stakeholders who have indicated that we can make our roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians—along with all other road users—by introducing this new tier of harm into the negligent and dangerous driving framework.
The new offence will come with a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units representing a fine of $8,000, six months imprisonment or both. These are serious penalties which reflect the serious harm that negligent driving can cause. The specific penalty applying in each case will be determined by the courts in light of the individual circumstances of each road incident that causes harm to another road user.
The new offence will not attract an automatic driver licence disqualification period. However, a court will have the option to apply its existing discretion to disqualify a person found guilty or convicted of an offence against the road transport legislation from holding or obtaining a drivers licence.
The new offence builds on the existing tiered offence structure for negligent driving, which makes enforcement options clear and reflects serious consequences that can arise from negligent driving. In doing so, it draws on the established case law on negligent driving and the fault element of negligence. However, the introduction of a negligent driving offence occasioning actual bodily harm changes the operation of the existing offence hierarchy and narrows the scope of the offence of negligent driving in any other case.
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