The ACT Government has today introduced new road safety legislation to tackle excessive speeding, targeting hooning and other dangerous driving behaviour. The new laws will mean police could immediately disqualify licenses and that drivers repeatedly caught street racing could face imprisonment, as well as significantly increased fines of up to $16,000.
Attorney General Shane Rattenbury said the offences were an important road safety measure.
Part of the new package will also ensure people participating in crimes by trespassing in motor vehicles would now be held to account, with a new offence created for being in a car when you shouldn't be.
"We had received feedback from ACT Policing that there was a gap in the law, when they could prove a person had been present in someone else's car, but couldn't prove they had stolen it. This offence recognises that unauthorised entry to a motor vehicle is unacceptable and wrong, and there needs to be a legal response," Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said.
"The Government is also working closely with key stakeholders to progress a more serious offence of unauthorised entry of a motor vehicle, which will encompass a higher level of culpability in its physical and fault elements, and will carry a higher maximum penalty.
"This is just the start of law reform in these areas. We will be working to holistically tackle the range of complicated factors that have contributed to an unusually high death toll on our roads this year."
Read the full media release: https://www.cmtedd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/rattenbury/2022/driving-reform-to-make-canberra-roads-safer
