Inquiry into the Road Safety Amendment (Car Doors) Bill 2012 Final ...

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Inquiry into the Road Safety Amendment (Car Doors) Bill 2012
1.6 Changes made to the regulations during the inquiry
On 31 July 2012, the Road Safety Road Rules Amendment (Car Doors) Rules 2012 and Road
Safety (General) Amendment (Car Doors) Regulations 2012 were made. These regulations
increased the maximum penalty for a breach of Road Rule 269(3) from 3 to 10 penalty units and
increased the infringement penalty (on-the-spot fine) from 1 to 2.5 penalty units. The increase of
the maximum penalty to 10 penalty units through regulations has achieved the same outcome as
clause 3 of the Bill proposes.
The Committee received the majority of its evidence for this Inquiry while the previous lower
penalties were still in force. This report therefore examines whether the increases to the penalties
are appropriate and sufficient. The Committee also received significant evidence about whether the
offence should remain in regulations as an infringement offence and whether the enforcement
procedure for the offence is appropriate. These issues are examined in Chapter 2.
1.7 Report structure
This report is structured into the following chapters:
Chapter 2 discusses enforcement and examines whether the offence should be moved from
regulations to legislation as proposed by the Bill. It also examines whether the offence
should continue to be an infringeable offence or whether all offences should be determined
by the Magistrates’ Court.
Chapter 3 examines whether the penalty for the offence is appropriate and whether demerit
points should be attached.
Chapter 4 summarises other issues relating to the offence that were raised with the
Committee.