Information Paper on Driving While Disqualified or Suspended Released
Today the Sentencing Advisory Council released an Information Paper on driving while disqualified or suspended.
Under the Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) people who repeatedly drive while their license is disqualified or suspended face a mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment for 1 month. Victoria is the only state in Australia that has a mandatory sentence of imprisonment for repeat offenders for this offence.
Driving while disqualified or suspended raises both sentencing issues and broader social issues as well, as this behaviour has been shown to increase the risk of accidents and injury both to these drivers and to the community at large.
The Information Paper reviews some of the research on the causes and consequences of driving while disqualified or suspended and provides information on the incidence of this offence.
Key findings include:
- There were about 2,846 people sentenced for unlicensed driving in 2000-01 compared to 8,615 people in 2006-07.
- Most people sentenced for unlicensed driving in the Magistrates’ Court between 2004-05 and 2006-07 received a fine (65%), while around one in five received a wholly suspended sentence.
- People convicted of driving while disqualified or suspended are involved in a proportionately higher number of road accidents than other drivers suggesting that they have a greater risk associated with them.