Unlicensed
driving in
Victoria
- Driving
while
Suspended
- Driving
while
Disqualified
- Unlicensed
Driving
Driving
Whilst Suspended law.
Drive
while suspended lawyer. Suspended
driving legal advice. suspended
licence.
A
drivers licence can be suspended in
many different ways. If a court
finds you guilty of any traffic
offence (other than drink driving
and dangerous driving) it has power
to suspend your drivers licence. The
usual ways in which a licence is
suspended are as follows:
- excessive
demerit points
- excessive
speed
- immediate
suspension following a drink
driving offence
- failure
to pay fines
Your
licence could be suspended by a
court, by a traffc infringement
notice, by VicRoads or by the
Sheriff.
It
is an offence to drive a motor
vehicle on a public road if your
licence has been
suspended.
When
police intercept a driver for any
driving offence a licence check will
determine whether the driver has a
current and valid licence. Many
police have on-board computers that
enable them to look up a database of
licence holders and registration
details. As the police drive along a
road, they will input registration
plate numbers into the computer and
if the registered owner is a
suspended or disqualified driver,
they will intercept the vehicle to
make further inquiries. The police
can also set up a character
recognition digital camera (similar
idea to those used on Citylink)
beside a road, and intercept each
car that goes by which the computer
says is owned by a suspended person.
So if you are thinking of driving
whilst suspended or whilst
disqualified, your chances of
getting caught these days have
increased significantly.
Sometimes
suspended drivers have been known to
state a false name and address after
being intercepted. This is also an
offence and tends to make things
worse.
Effect of licence
suspension
A
person whose licence has been
suspended is unable to use the
licence for any purpose until the
period of suspension has expired.
Once the suspension ends, the person
can resume driving provided their
licence is current. There is no need
to take any step in order to be able
to resume driving. If your licence
is suspended you commit an offence
if you drive any motor vehicle on a
road in Victoria. This includes most
motorised scooters. You will be
ineligible to drive in any other
state on your Victorian licence. You
are also disqualified from obtaining
a new licence during the period of
suspension.
Penalties for driving whilst
suspended
s.30
Road Safety Act 1986
First
offence: Up to $3300 fine, or up to
4 months imprisonment.
Second
or subsequent offence: Imprisonment
for a period of at least one month
and not more than 2
years.
Typical
outcomes for a first offence is a
fine of about $1100 and 1 to 6
months additional licence suspension
- I have seen people get 12 months
extra when poorly represented.
A typical sentence for a second
offence is one months imprisonment
wholly suspended for a period of 12
months, with some further licence
suspension. If you commit
certain further offences during that
12 month period you will end up in
jail. I am often asked to keep
any additional licence loss to a
minimum if not avoid it completely.
Defences
to driving whilst
suspended
All
of the legal process defences which
are available in all traffic
offences are available in drive
whilst suspended cases. Other ways
of defending these charges involve
challenging the legitimacy of the
suspension, or having the suspension
reversed, having the court accept
you were not driving a motor
vehicle, or the prosecution may be
unable to prove that you knew that
your drivers licence was suspended
at the time of driving. As this
offence is punishable by
imprisonment, it is common for
people to try to avoid prison by
pleading guilty rather than risk
damaging their chances by pleading
not guilty.
Legal Representation
A
person facing charges of driving
whilst disqualified will eventually
be charged on summons and will have
to go to court at which point legal
representation is recommended. The
total cost of legal representation
for a plea of guilty to driving
while suspended is usually within
the range $1400 to $1700, and
slightly higher if it is not your
first offence. If it is your first
offence, the chance of going to
prison is quite low. If it is not
your first offence the chance of
spending time in prison is low if
the case is handled properly.
Do not believe those lawyers who try
to justify ridiculously high fees on
the basis that they are going to
save you from prison. None of my
clients have ever gone to prison
simply for driving while suspended.
However, some have gone to
prison because the offence of
driving while suspended breached an
earlier suspended term of
imprisonment, or they were also
drunk at the time and had an
accident.
Driving
Whilst Disqualified Drive
while disqualfied law and
advice
Any
person who loses their licence for a
drink driving offence or a dangerous
driving offence will find that their
licence is cancelled (not suspended)
and they are disqualified from
obtaining a licence for a fixed
period of time. You can become a
disqualified person by order of a
court or by a traffic infringement
notice. A person who drives a motor
vehicle on a road during a period
when they are disqualified from
obtaining a licence, they commit an
offence.
Effect
of disqualification
A
person who is disqualified from
obtaining a licence is unable to
drive during the period of
disqualification. Once the
disqualification period ends, the
person will not be able to drive
until they apply for a new licence.
Holders of interstate drivers
licences and overseas licences can
also be disqualified from driving in
Victoria if they are found guilty of
drink driving or dangerous
driving.
Penalties
for driving whilst
disqualified
s.30
Road Safety Act 1986
First
offence: Up to $3300 fine, or up to
4 months imprisonment.
Second
or subsequent offence: Imprisonment
for a period of at least one month
and not more than 2
years.
Typical
outcomes for a first offence is a
fine of about $1100 and an
additional 1 to 6 months
disqualification. A typical penalty
for a second offence is one months
imprisonment wholly suspended for a
period of 12 months, with extra
licence loss. In many cases, if the
matter is handled properly, it is
possible to avoid extending the
licence disqualification
period.
Defences
to driving whilst
disqualfiied
All
of the legal process defences which
are available in all traffic
offences are available in drive
whilst disqualified cases. Other
ways of defending these charges
involve challenging the legitimacy
of the disqualification (which is
usually difficult as it is nearly
always founded on a court order), or
having the disqualification
reversed, having the court accept
you were not driving a motor
vehicle, or showing that you had no
knowledge that you were disqualified
at the time of driving. As this
offence is punishable by
imprisonment, it is common for
people to try to avoid prison by
pleading guilty rather than risk
damaging their chances by pleading
not guilty. When charged with
driving whilst disqualified the
court has options to fine the
defendant (if it is a first
offence), order the defendant to
perform community work, order
imprisonment, and it also has the
power to further suspend the
defendant's drivers licence for as
long as the court thinks fit.
Subsequent offenders must receive a
prison sentence which may be
custodial or
non-custodial.
Legal
Representation
A
person facing charges of driving
whilst disqualified will eventually
be charged on summons and will have
to go to court at which point legal
representation is recommended. The
total cost of legal representation
for a plea of guilty to driving
while disqualified is usually within
the range $1400 to $1700, and
slightly higher if it is not your
first offence. If it is your first
offence, the chance of going to
prison is quite low. If it is not
your first offence the chance of
spending time in prison is low if
the case is handled properly.
Do not believe those lawyers who try
to justify ridiculously high fees on
the basis that they are going to
save you from prison. None of my
clients have ever gone to prison
simply for driving while
disqualified. However, some
have gone to prison because their
driving while disqualified breached
an earlier suspended term of
imprisonment, or they committed
other serious driving offences at
the same time.
Driving
whilst unlicensed legal
advice
If
you do not have a licence to drive a
motor vehicle in Victoria, and you
are not exempt from holding one, you
are not permitted to drive a motor
vehicle on any public road. People
who commit this offence usually fall
into one of the following
categories:
- Those
who have never held any drivers
licence.
- Those
whose licence was cancelled or
expired and they failed to restore
their licence
- People
who hold a licence issued in another
state or country buthave failed to
obtain a Victorian
licence.
- People
who do not hold a licence for the
category of vehicle they are driving
or riding (i.e. drive a truck on a
car licence)
- People
who fail to comply with the
conditions on their licence (i.e.
wear eyeglasses).
Penalties
for driving whilst
unlicensed
s.18
Road Safety Act 1986
If
you have previously held a licence
and it has not been cancelled: $1100
or up to one month imprisonment.
All
other cases: Up to $2500 fine, or up
to 3 months imprisonment.
Defences
to driving whilst
unlicenced
All
of the legal process defences which
are available in all traffic
offences are available in drive
while unlicenced cases. It is also a
defence if the court is satisfied
that at the time of driving the
defendant had an honest and
reasonable belief that they were
licenced to drive a motor
vehicle.
Related
Pages:
Fines
Court
Process
Relicencing
applications
Immediate
Licence Suspensions
court
representation by traffic lawyer
|
