'Stupid' to dump rego stickers

Article From The West Australian, Friday October 21, 2011.

A retiring magistrate has described the State Government's decision to scrap vehicle registration stickers as “a stupid idea” that has forced hundreds of people into the court system. Magistrate Wayne Tarr said that the $500,000 a year saving achieved by the Barnett Government in abolishing the stickers had not been worth the trouble.

He said it was an unnecessary “fundraising campaign”

Mr Tarr made his comments in Perth Magistrate court yesterday after sentencing a woman who forgot to pay her vehicle registration fees. “I have seen hundreds of similar situations (in the WA court system) where people have forgotten about their vehicle licence fees” Mr Tarr said.

Registration stickers were abolished on January 1 last year. Motorists still receive licence renewal notices in the mail. In announcing the move, Premier Colin Barnett said it was “an innovative approach to efficiency and saving”

WA police figures show the number of unlicensed   motor vehicles detected on WA roads increased from 2680 in 2009 to 5137 last year.  Transport Minister Troy Buswell said the increase in the numbers of unlicensed motor vehicles was because police cars were being fitted with more effective computer systems.

He said figures from the licensing office showed there has not been a significant change since registration stickers were abolished with only a 0.4 per cent increase in the number of people failing to re-register their motor vehicle from 2009 to 2010.

“I understand the concerns regarding motorists potentially driving an unlicensed vehicle” Mr Buswell said. “However, it is an owners responsibility to maintain their vehicle licence and third party insurance.”
Mr Buswell said the State Government was on track to save at least $2 million in printing and postage over four years by abolishing the stickers.

Mr Tarr’s comments were backed by shadow transport minister Ken Travers, who said drivers were being caught out. He said the stickers were a double check for motorists and the abolition of stickers was silly and unwarranted.

“This magistrate has seen the increase and I know of lots of justices of the peace who have seen a similar increase since the stickers went” Mr Travers said. Earlier this year, THE WEST AUSTRALIAN reported that car repairers have  seen a dramatic increase in the number of unlicensed vehicles since the abolition of registration stickers.

Confusion over rego renewal could set in

 The Manager of a business started in WA to help people overcome growing problems associated with vehicle licensing compliance believes it is only a matter of time before motorists nationwide will face registration confusion. Kevin Stevens joined Rego Reminder in June last year after the company’s Perth-based founder, John Nelli, designed and developed an alternative sticker to help remind motorists to pay their vehicle registration. Changes to WA registration requirements in January 2010 mean vehicle owners are no longer required to display rego stickers.

The Great Southern has experienced a considerable increase in vehicle licensing offenses since the changes, a trend Mr Stevens believes will occur all over Australia if the same changes are adopted. “You are supposed to get your renewal papers from the government six weeks before your registration expires,” he said. “But enough people to make it an issue are not getting them for varying reasons. I’ve not seen anything to the contrary from the government to explain why there are more cars unregistered on the road than before they took the stickers away. We’re trying to avoid swelling the government coffers, but personally you don’t want to see it financially ruin someone who is unlucky enough to be out of third party insurance.”

The stickers cost $2.75, a price Mr Stevens said was small compared to the cost of facing court if charged with driving an unlicensed vehicle like almost 300 people in Albany this year. “This way you can look at your window and realise your rego is due, and if you haven’t received your renewal papers you can ring up the Department of Transport and ask them what’s going on,” he said.

Car licensing rules clog up courts, waste police time

There has been dramatic rise in the number of unlicensed vehicle offenses being processed through courts in the Great Southern. Figures show almost 300 people were charged with driving unregistered vehicles between January 1 and July 28 this year compared to just 130 in all of 2009. The increase comes less than two years after the State Government overhauled requirements for motorists to exhibit registration stickers on their vehicles. The move in January 2010 was trumpeted as one which would create a more efficient licensing system. But lawyers and prosecutors agree the considerable leap in offences, which are required to be dealt with by magistrates courts, could be more effectively dealt with if registration legislation was changed.

Legal Aid Albany solicitor-in-charge Graeme Payne said the implications of driving unregistered vehicles could have far-reaching consequences and supported the now abolished sticker system. “As duty lawyers we hear many stories from clients who didn’t receive the renewal notices for one reason or another,” he said. “A lot of these people have never been charged with an offence before and are unlikely to re-offend.” “On the scale of things it is not a major matter that comes before the court, but it is certainly not a minor matter to the people that have to take a day off work, travel considerable distances or make arrangements for child care.” Mr Payne said penalties ranging from $50 to $500, plus court costs of about $120 and mandatory court orders to pay half annual license fee could be avoided if registration stickers were reintroduced.

Albany’s chief police prosecutor Sergeant Ron Watkins said there was a risk the increasing number of registration-related offenses heard in court could clog up the judiciary.

“The justices of the peace deal with most of these, but if you put them on a magistrate’s day you would certainly clog the court up.” He said. Sgt Watkins said unlicensed vehicle offenses were one of several that regularly appeared in the criminal court system that could be dealt with by other means, including infringements.

Responding in the Albany Advertiser on Thursday the 4^th August 2011, Transport Minister Troy Buswell refuted claims a rise in the number of unlicensed vehicle offences may be linked to changes to the registration system introduced at the start of 2010. Registration-related offenses surged by more than 100 percent from 130 in all of 2009 to more than 280 already this year.

Mr Buswell said “The increase in people being caught driving unregistered vehicles is due to technology improvements that enabled police to automatically check large numbers of vehicles.”

But he was unable to explain a jump of 71 offences recorded in 2010 from the previous year, before Great Southern police received new speed monitoring and number plate recognition equipment.

Drivers Caught Out

Police caught nearly twice as many people driving unlicensed vehicles in 12 months after registration stickers was scrapped than they did the year before.

The rise in infringements, from 2680 in 2009 to 5137 last year, was matched by a similar rise in proportion of unlicensed vehicles caught on the roads.

In 2009, only 1.25% of vehicles pulled over by police were unlicensed. Last year, that figure grew to 2.15%, suggesting that the rise was not simply a case of more police checks.

In most cases, the vehicle owner, and anyone found to have an unlicensed vehicle to be driven can be charged along with the person who is actually driving.

Transport Minister Troy Buswell did not comment about to jump in infringements when asked last week, but opposition spokesman Ken Travers was convinced that the demise of registration stickers was the major reason.

Mr Buswell did  say that the concept was expected to save $2 million in printing and postage costs over four years and the government will continue to issue reminder notices, despite no requirement to do so.

"There are no legislative provisions requiring that the department of transport to issue a vehicle license renewal notice, but it continues to issue them, up to 6 weeks in advance of expiry, as a reminder" he said.

"The department will continue to send a  reminders/invoices to vehicle owners in advance of the expiry of the vehicle license."

There have been about 100 complaints made to the Department of Transport about the registration stickers issue.

Mr Travers is trumpeting an annual Rego Reminder day next Tuesday, suggesting people use March 1 to contact that the department chicken vehicles registration status.

He stop short of saying registration stickers should return, but said he would investigate the viability of such a move and believed it could become an election issue,

"The Barnett government is subjecting West Australians to potentially huge financial costs."

Rego Stickers Needed

I recently returned home from holidays to learn that the registration of our second car I have expired late last year.

The car has sat idle, not driven, for several weeks, so no crime had been committed, and no real harm done.

After paying over the phone to renew the vehicle license, I was reminded by the friendly operator that I would no longer be receiving a registration sticker to affix to the windscreen.

She assured me however that the registration receipt would be popped in the mall is proof the car was street legal.

I was also urged to check the department's website if I needed to check the rego  expiry date in the future.

This ought not post too much of a problem for owner drivers, but what about drivers required to operate borrowed vehicles, hire cars will work hours is part of the job?

Without rego stickers, you can bet that more folk will end up being pinged for driving unregistered cars.

As it stands now we have a problem with unregistered cars and far too many disqualified or unlicensed drivers.