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- 3 September 2003
Unlicensed Drivers
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Page: 3081
Mr CORRIGAN: My question is directed to the Minister for Roads. What is the latest information on the Government's efforts to get unlicensed drivers off our roads?
Mr SCULLY: We all want our roads to be safer. We need drivers to be educated, focused and, most importantly, licensed. I am disappointed that a number of people who drive on our roads are not licensed. People who drive and have their licence revoked show contempt of the law and, worse, are dangerous on the roads. Last year 8,000 unlicensed drivers were caught on our roads—an increase of 400 over the previous year. It is most disturbing that last year more than 2,000 accidents involved unlicensed drivers, and 50 per cent of those accidents involved injuries or fatalities. These unlicensed drivers cause very significant costs to the community, with loss of life, property damage and rehabilitation.
Today I am releasing an options paper to address this very serious issue. The discussion paper proposes an innovative set of proposals to deal with people who drive after their licence has been revoked, either by disqualification or other administrative process. I want to get community feedback in relation to the options papers before I put a proposal to Cabinet to change the legislation. Under the plan I am releasing today a new onus will be placed on car owners to ensure that they hand control of their vehicle only to a person who is licensed to drive it. There will be three steps involved for those who are caught driving with a revoked licence. First, the number plates of the offender's vehicle will be confiscated for 30 days, irrespective of whether the driver of the car is the owner of the car.
Second, after 30 days the owner of the vehicle can apply for new specially coded and marked plates that will have to be displayed for up to three years. Finally, if people continue to drive even after these penalties have been imposed, the vehicle they drive will be immobilised at the expense of the owner. As a community we need to start thinking about whether persons to whom we lend our vehicles are properly authorised to drive them on the State roads network. Motorists who will be targeted are those who have lost 12 or more points under the demerit system, have a court-imposed disqualification period, have never held a licence and are aged 16 years or over, or have been suspended for excessive speeding and continue to drive.
The Government wants to change community attitudes. I am concerned that research shows that of those 8,000 people who drove a car without being properly licensed, 90 per cent were driving vehicles they did not own. It is not enough to say to disqualified drivers and revoked licence holders on the road that we will immobilise their car and take their plates away. In this options paper we deliberately suggest that a new way to lower the road toll and the amount of injury and property damage is to tell owners of vehicles to be very cautious when lending their car. They should make sure that the person they allow to drive their vehicle is appropriately qualified and licensed to use it on the roads network.
The ideas in the discussion paper are an Australian first. I asked the Roads and Traffic Authority [RTA] to send an officer to the United States of America to study how states such as Michigan, Minnesota and California are tackling the problem. We have adopted some of the better parts of the schemes in those states of America and have applied them to circumstances in New South Wales. I think this is an appropriate balance between coming down on people who are doing the wrong thing and making sure that people's vehicles are not unnecessarily taken out of circulation. The RTA has consulted with NSW Police and Attorneys-General to come up with reasonable and practical guidelines.
There have been calls from some stakeholders for automatic impoundment of a vehicle. That would be difficult to administer and would put onerous resources onto NSW Police. It would also create storage problems. My colleague the Minister for Police shares those concerns with me. Confiscating the plates, and putting the onus on owners of vehicles to store their own vehicle, is an appropriate way to effectively achieve the same outcome. These specially coded plates will make it obvious to the police and the whole community that the vehicle has, in the past, been used by a person who was not properly licensed to be on the roads network. After the 30-day confiscation period, the owner of the vehicle can apply for specially marked plates.
The RTA will determine what those specially marked plates should be. For example, in Minnesota, a "w" is used on the front of the plates to mark that the vehicle has been used by a disqualified licence holder or a person otherwise not qualified to be on the road. Those special plates and immobilisation for continual offenders shows our commitment to getting those drivers and vehicles off the road. This places greater onus on car owners. The message is simple; it is a very blunt message that motorists and car owners should not lend their vehicles unless they have checked that the person borrowing them is properly qualified to drive the car.
It is proposed that a hotline or Internet facility will be set up subject to discussions between the Roads and Traffic Authority [RTA], police and the Privacy Commissioner. It is important to protect people's privacy but car owners must have access to relevant information so that an informed decision can be made on whether it is appropriate for them to lend their car to someone. Members of the community can call 1300 137 162 to have the option papers mailed to them or downloaded from the RTA's web site. This is an appropriate forum for people to put their concerns to the RTA and I will consider them in the package that I put to Cabinet. I am not saying that this will happen tomorrow.
Mrs Skinner: What is your view?
Mr SCULLY: I have in-principle support for it and it should be done. I make that absolutely clear: It should be done. When the Opposition was in government it was not consultative. This Government is.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I call the honourable member for North Shore to order. I call the honourable member for Swansea to order.
Mr SCULLY: I am putting this proposal on the table. I want to consult with the community and hear from organisations such as the NRMA. I would like to hear the views of the Opposition and the communities they represent about the proposal not to allow people to lend their cars unless a check is made that the borrower is properly qualified to be on the road network. That is a great idea and I would like to hear from the community about it.
[Interruption]
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Chair needs no assistance on the standing orders from the Leader of the National Party.
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