ROAD TRAFFIC ACT 1961 - SECT 45
ROAD TRAFFIC ACT 1961 - SECT 45
(1) A person must not
drive a vehicle without due care or attention or without reasonable
consideration for other persons using the road.
(2) If a court
convicts a person of an offence against this section that is an
aggravated offence, the following provisions apply:
(a) the
maximum penalty for the offence is 12 months imprisonment; and
(b)
subject to subsection (2a), the court must order that the person be
disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver's licence for such period,
being not less than 6 months, as the court thinks fit; and
(c) the
disqualification prescribed by paragraph (b) cannot be reduced or
mitigated in any way or be substituted by any other penalty or sentence.
(2a)
Subsection (2)(b) does not apply if—
(a) the
aggravating circumstances were that the offence caused harm to a person; and
(b) the
harm so caused fell short of serious harm.
(3) 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 in the course of
attempting to escape pursuit by a police officer;
(ii)
the offender was, at the time of the offence, driving a
vehicle knowing that the offender was disqualified, under the law of this
State or another State or Territory of the Commonwealth, from holding or
obtaining a driver's licence or that the offender's licence was suspended by
notice given under this Act;
(iii)
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;
(iv)
the offender was, at the time of the offence, driving a
vehicle in contravention of section 45A, 47 or 47BA;
(v)
the offender was, at the time of the offence, driving or
using a motor vehicle that—
(i)
was stolen; or
(ii)
was being driven or used without the consent of the owner
of the vehicle,
and the offender knew, or was reckless with respect to, that fact;
(vi)
the offender committed the offence knowing that there
were 1 or more passengers in or on the motor vehicle;
(vii)
the offender committed the offence while the offender was
the holder of—
(A) a provisional licence; or
(B) a probationary licence; or
(C) a learner's permit; or
(D) an interstate provisional licence; or
(E) an interstate learner's permit,
(as defined in the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 ) authorising the holder to
drive a motor vehicle of the class driven by the offender at the time of the
offence;
(viii)
the offender committed the offence while the offender was
not, at the time of the offence, the holder of—
(A) a driver's licence; or
(B) a learner's permit; or
(C) an interstate licence; or
(D) an interstate learner's permit; or
(E) a foreign licence,
(as defined in the Motor Vehicles Act 1959 ) authorising the holder to
drive a motor vehicle of the class driven by the offender at the time of the
offence.
(4) 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.
(4a) It is a defence
to a charge of an offence against this section for the defendant to prove that
the defendant was, at the time of the offence—
(a)
carrying out duties as an emergency worker; and
(b)
acting in accordance with the directions of the defendant's employing
authority; and
(c)
acting reasonably in the circumstances as the defendant believed them to be.
(5) In this
section—
"emergency worker" means a police officer or a person who is an
emergency worker as defined by the regulations for the purposes of this
section;
"employing authority" means—
(a) in
relation to a police officer—the Commissioner of Police; or
(b) in
relation to a person who is an emergency worker as defined by the regulations
for the purposes of this section—the person defined by the regulations
as the employing authority for that person;
"harm" has the same meaning as in section 21 of the
Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 ;
"serious harm" has the same meaning as in section 21 of the
Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 .