Magistrate calls for driver ban powers
MAGISTRATES should have the power to increase the time a person convicted of traffic offences, other than drink driving, is disqualified from holding a driver’s licence if they are granted a restricted licence, a magistrate says.
Under the Road Safety Alcohol and Drugs Act, if a magistrate grants a restricted licence to a person convicted of an offence such as drink driving, they are also able to extend the period of time the person is disqualified from driving with a regular licence. Hobart magistrate Chris Webster said he called upon the State Government to change the law so that this provision also applied to people convicted of other crimes committed while driving, such as causing death by negligent driving.
“It would be a very useful tool if we were able to increase the disqualification period for offences other than breathalyser [offences],” he said.
Mr Webster made the comments in court on Friday when he granted a restricted licence to Metro bus driver Stephen Murray Hartstonge, who was found guilty in March of causing the death of Wendy Evans, an off-duty Queensland police officer, by dangerous driving on July 22, 2016.
Hartstonge, of Cygnet, was disqualified from holding a driver’s licence for two years and received a three-month prison sentence that was wholly suspended for three years.
On Friday, Mr Webster said while extending the disqualification period may not have been something he would have done in the case of 62-year-old Hartstonge, it would be useful in other cases.
A Government spokesman said there were no plans to change the laws.
“But we are always open to listening to ideas from relevant stakeholders that could better protect Tasmanians,” the spokesman said.
Under the Road Safety Alcohol and Drugs Act, if a magistrate grants a restricted licence to a person convicted of an offence under the Act, the court can increase the period of time the offender is disqualified from driving, but that period cannot exceed the period of disqualification remaining at the time the restricted licence is granted.
Courts can grant a restricted licence in circumstances where a person can prove they would suffer “severe and unusual hardship” if their licence is cancelled.