Sticky situation over registration confusion

A DARWIN magistrate has conceded the Northern Territory’s stickerless car registration system is “very annoying” and that it results in “a lot” of people being charged with driving unregistered.

Magistate Tanya FongLim’s criticism of the system came during the sentencing of driver Matthew Parker Lee.

Mr Lee pleaded guilty to medium range drink driving, driving unregistered and driving uninsured.

He said he had rushed back to Darwin from a fishing trip after doctors called him to say he had tested positive for meli- oidosis. “I had a small cut on my foot with (what I thought was) a superficial infection,” he said.

He cut his fishing trip short, where he had been “consuming a bit of alcohol”, and blew over the limit on his way back.

He said his car was unregis- tered because he had recently moved houses, and that reminder notices from MVR had not come in the post.

Without a sticker on his windshield, he had forgotten to renew his registration.

“I know (the stickerless system) is very annoying, isn’t it,” Ms Fong-Lim said.

“We have a lot of people unregistered and uninsured with the no-sticker system.”

But Ms Fong-Lim said it was a driver’s responsibility to keep their car registered, and noted that stickerless registration did not seem to cause as many issues interstate.

Figures produced by NT Police show the number of drivers nabbed for driving unregistered increased by nearly 20 per cent this financial year.

But police put much of the increase down to their new high-tech cameras, which have caught hundreds of drink drivers. The cameras can scan registration plates of passing drivers, meaning police do not have to check plates manually.

Transport Minister Peter Chandler said the percentage of Territorian motorists fined for driving unregistered remained low.

“It’s the vehicle owners’ responsibility to ensure their vehicle is registered,” he said.

Mr Chandler said no other government agency ever hand- ed out stickers to remind people to pay their bills, and that the MVR still posted reminder notices to drivers.

“Additional servicing points have also been introduced through a partnership with Australia Post,” he said. “We have had a lot of positive feedback in regards to the MVR reforms which have been implemented over the past few years.”

Member for Goyder Kezia Purick has also criticised the stickerless registration system, saying it has “serious flaws”.

Mr Lee, who relies on his license for work, was suspended from driving for six months and fined $1000.

“We have a lot of people unregistered and uninsured with the nosticker system”