No Licence: Car Seizure Move
The Sunday Age
Sunday January 16, 2005
UNLICENSED drivers may face having their cars seized under anti-hooning laws.
A spokeswoman for Police Minister Andre Haermeyer said impounding cars could become part of the anti-hooning legislation the Government is examining.It could be used more broadly to include unlicensed drivers, she said.The move follows a Victorian police submission in January last year to a state parliamentary inquiry into the Government's road safety strategy. It called for new laws to allow the seizure of repeat unlicensed drivers' cars.The proposed anti-hooning legislation has been referred to the Government's Ministerial Road Safety Council and follows the deaths of two young men in October. They were passengers in a car allegedly drag racing that smashed into a pole in St Kilda.NSW, Queensland, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania have introduced anti-hooning laws that include the power to confiscate cars.An RACV spokesman said the organisation would be reluctant to support a blanket confiscation of cars from unlicensed drivers. because it could cause hardship if a seized car belonged to a driver's family.But Pedestrian Council of Australia chairman Harold Scruby welcomed the move.He claimed the number of unlicensed drivers had become an epidemic.The number of unlicensed drivers in Victoria is difficult to assess. But Mr Scruby claimed anecdotal evidence from police and insurance companies showed more than 10 per cent of drivers on the state's roads never had a licence, had been disqualified from driving or were driving after having their licences cancelled or suspended.There are more than 3.4 million licensed drivers in Victoria.Mr Scruby said unlicensed drivers were eight times more likely to be involved in crashes than licensed drivers and were a major contributor to the road toll."This is a group of people who don't give a stuff about anybody else on the roads," he told The Sunday Age. "They are a very dangerous group of drivers. Honestly, they will continue to drive until they kill someone and are locked up."Mr Scruby urged the Government to adopt the New Zealand system in which cars driven by unlicensed drivers were impounded for a month. Repeat offenders had their cars confiscated.About 1000 cars are seized each month in New Zealand. But there was a 40 per cent drop in the number of unlicensed drivers caught during the 12 months after the measure was introduced five years ago.In a separate development, VicRoads has rejected a NSW Government discussion paper calling for cars driven by unlicensed drivers to be marked with special number plates.Unlicensed drivers caught behind the wheel would have the car's number plates confiscated for a month.The owner of the car would then have to apply for the special plates that could remain on the car for three years.A VicRoads spokeswoman said the proposal was not being considered.
© 2005 The Sunday Age