Page 2451 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 30 July 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The bill clarifies the circumstances under which a blood sample can be taken in hospital from a pedestrian involved in an accident. A sample can only be taken when the pedestrian is involved in an accident with a motor vehicle, bicycle, personal mobility device or animal-drawn vehicle. It is necessary to be able to test pedestrians as an investigative tool to determine the level of culpability of each party to the accident, to assist police in determining appropriate enforcement action.
Several other jurisdictions have introduced infringement notice penalties for certain drink and drug driving offences. The bill contains amendments to ensure that in these instances that offence is treated the same as a similar offence in the territory, where it is not currently an infringement notice offence. The government is monitoring developments in other jurisdictions and is committed to protecting the community from impaired drivers. In setting penalties for driving-related offences in the ACT, the government seeks to provide a balance between deterrence, community safety and providing drivers with the assistance they need to change their behaviour.
This bill includes a number of minor amendments to improve the efficiency and administration of the road transport infringement notice scheme. The amendments clarify that family violence, whether current or past, is a relevant circumstance for the purpose of determining a person’s application to participate in an approved community work or social development program as an alternative method of paying an infringement notice penalty or an application for waiver of an infringement notice penalty. These amendments are being supported by a number of updates to existing processes around withdrawal and waiver of infringement notice penalties and access to approved community work or social development programs.
The bill also makes minor amendments to support future regulatory reforms to permit the use of emerging forms of personal transportation, as Miss Burch touched on. Since this bill was introduced, community consultation has been undertaken by a discussion paper on the your say website on how to introduce new personal electronic transportation devices into the road environment in ways that meet community expectations and are safe. The paper sought community input on what the regulatory settings for this type of device might be—in particular, maximum speed, where these devices should be permitted and whether there should be restrictions or conditions for use. There were over 650 responses received.
I will be hosting a road safety forum in early September on personal use of these devices, which will build on the consultation undertaken to date. E-scooters are a great example of how we can promote the use of zero emission transport when paired with 100 per cent renewable electricity and potentially reduce our reliance on cars, especially for short trips which can be more easily replaced.
I thank the Canberra Liberals for their support for the bill and I commend it to the Assembly.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video