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.