HARBORS AND NAVIGATION ACT 1993 - SECT 69

HARBORS AND NAVIGATION ACT 1993 - SECT 69

69—Careless operation of a vessel

        (1)         A person who operates a vessel without due care for the safety of any person or property is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty:

            (a)         for an aggravated offence—12 months imprisonment; or

            (b)         for any other offence—$5 000.

        (2)         For the purposes of this section, an aggravated offence is—

            (a)         an offence that caused harm to a person; or

            (b)         an offence committed in any of the following circumstances:

                  (i)         the offender committed the offence while there was present in the offender's blood a concentration of .08 grams or more of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood;

                  (ii)         the offender was, at the time of the offence, operating the vessel in contravention of section 70(1).

        (3)         If a person is charged with an aggravated offence against this section, the circumstances alleged to aggravate the offence must be stated in the instrument of charge.

        (4)         In this section—

"harm" has the same meaning as in section 21 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 .