Page 1790 - Week 06 - Thursday, 14 May 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
I am pleased to introduce the Road Transport Legislation Amendment Bill 2015 into the Assembly today. This bill is an omnibus bill that makes a number of amendments to the road transport legislation and the Crimes Act to improve road safety and improve the administration and enforcement of the road transport legislation.
The first of the amendments made by this bill is to create a new offence of drinking alcohol while driving a vehicle. Members would be well aware of the territory’s longstanding road safety message of “drink or drive”. While the territory has for many years had laws that prohibit driving with a certain blood alcohol level, there are no laws that prohibit people from actually consuming alcohol while they are in the process of driving. This amendment fixes that anomaly.
The change makes it clear that drivers should not be consuming alcohol while they are driving, because this is potentially dangerous and inconsistent with the safety message that alcohol and driving do not go together.
Drink driving continues to be a significant contributor to death and trauma on our roads. The substantial penalties for drink driving reflect the seriousness with which the community views this behaviour. This government is determined to reduce the damage to Canberra road users and their friends and families by the reckless disregard that drink drivers have for the safety of others.
It is inconsistent with the road safety message to the community about drinking and driving that a driver can lawfully consume alcohol while driving a vehicle. We want to send a clear message that there needs to be separation between drinking and driving.
Quite apart from the inconsistency with the drink or drive road safety message, an obvious risk of allowing drinking while driving is the much more limited scope a drinking driver has to monitor and understand their level of intoxication than a person drinking in a more controlled environment. Closing this anomaly brings the territory into line with other jurisdictions, including New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
The second amendment made by this bill is to amend the offence relating to burnouts to clarify that it covers other similar antisocial and risky driving behaviours such as drifting. The current definition of a burnout has been narrowly interpreted by the courts, with the result that potentially dangerous driving behaviours do not fall within the offence in line with the Legislative Assembly’s original intent. The offence has been amended so that the focus is now on driving behaviours that involve the loss of traction of a vehicle’s driving wheels. This mirrors the approach adopted in New South Wales and Victoria.
The third amendment is to exempt police recruits undergoing driving training from having to comply with specified aspects of the road transport legislation. While the road transport legislation currently provides such an exemption for sworn police officers undergoing this training, it does not currently extend to police recruits. On-road driving and riding training and assessment necessarily involve departures from
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video