South Australian Consolidated Acts

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ACT 1934 - SECT 789D

789D—Owner of vehicle may name driver

        (1)         An expiation notice or expiation reminder notice given under the Expiation of Offences Act 1996 to the owner of a vehicle for an alleged offence against this Act arising out of the use of the vehicle must be accompanied by a notice inviting the owner, if he or she was not the driver at the time of the alleged offence, to provide the council, within the period specified in the notice, with a statutory declaration—

            (a)         setting out the name and address of the driver; or

            (b)         if he or she had transferred ownership of the vehicle to another prior to the time of the alleged offence and has complied with the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 in respect of the transfer—setting out details of the transfer (including the name and address of the transferee).

        (2)         Before proceedings are commenced against the owner of a vehicle for an offence against this Act arising out of the use of the vehicle, the complainant must send the owner a notice—

            (a)         setting out particulars of the alleged offence; and

            (b)         inviting the owner, if he or she was not the driver at the time of the offence, to provide the complainant, within 21 days of the date of the notice, with a statutory declaration setting out the matters referred to in subsection (1).

        (3)         Subsection (2) does not apply to—

            (a)         proceedings commenced where an owner has elected under the Expiation of Offences Act 1996 to be prosecuted for the offence; or

            (b)         proceedings commenced against an owner of a vehicle who has been named in a statutory declaration under this section as the driver of the vehicle.

        (4)         Subject to subsection (5), in proceedings against the owner of a vehicle for an offence against this Act, it is a defence to prove—

            (a)         that, in consequence of some unlawful act, the vehicle was not in the possession or control of the owner at the time of the alleged offence; or

            (b)         that the owner provided the complainant with a statutory declaration in accordance with an invitation under this section.

        (5)         The defence in subsection (4)(b)does not apply if it is proved that the owner made the declaration knowing it to be false in a material particular.

        (6)         If—

            (a)         an expiation notice is given to a person named as the alleged driver in a statutory declaration under this section; or

            (b)         proceedings are commenced against a person named as the alleged driver in such a statutory declaration,

the notice or summons, as the case may be, must be accompanied by a notice setting out particulars of the statutory declaration that named the person as the alleged driver.

        (7)         In proceedings against a person named in a statutory declaration under this section for the offence to which the declaration relates, it will be presumed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, that the person was the driver of the vehicle at the time at which the alleged offence was committed.

        (8)         In proceedings against the owner or driver of a vehicle for an offence against this Act, an allegation in the complaint that a notice was given under this section on a specified day will be accepted as proof, in the absence of proof to the contrary, of the facts alleged.