Page updated on: Friday April 23, 2010
Joe has a modified Subaru Impreza he’s very proud of, and he has the speeding tickets to prove it. After his fifth ticket in a year, he’s accumulated 150 demerit points, enough to have his licence suspended for three months. The Land Transport Safety agent serve a notice of suspension on him at his home.
He is caught one Friday night driving around with his friends. His car is confiscated on the spot and he is charged with driving while his licence is suspended.
Offence:
Driving while suspended – section 32(1)(c) of the Land Transport Act 1998. It is an offence to drive a motor vehicle on a road while your driver licence is suspended.
Penalty:
The penalty for this charge depends on whether you have been convicted of driving while disqualified or suspended previously.
If this is the first or second time you have been convicted of this charge (or of driving while disqualified or contrary to a limited licence), the maximum penalty is imprisonment of up to 3 months or a fine of up to $4500. The Court must disqualify you from driving for 6 months or more.
If this is the third or more time you have been convicted of this, there is a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison and a $6000 fine. The court will order you to be disqualified from holding a drivers licence for at least a year.
Likely sentence:
Joe will be disqualified from driving for a further six months. This period only begins when his original suspension finishes. All up, he will be disqualified from driving for nine months. He is likely to be fined around $300-500 and ordered to pay court costs of $130. If he couldn’t afford to pay the fine (or he hadn’t paid the speeding tickets he accumulated), he could be sentenced to around 40-60 hours of community work instead.
After his car has been impounded for 28 days, he will need to collect it from the storage provider and pay the storage and towing costs of around $400.
Special notes:
If Joe had been driving his mother’s car instead of his own when he got stopped, he would still have had it impounded. His mother could appeal the impoundment to the Police but there are very limited grounds for any appeal, (eg. such as the car was stolen at the time or the owner couldn’t reasonably have known that the person driving was suspended).
Offence:
Driving while suspended – section 32(1)(c) of the Land Transport Act 1998
It is an offence to drive a motor vehicle on a road while your driver licence is suspended.
Penalty:
The penalty for this charge depends on whether you have been convicted of driving while disqualified or suspended previously.
If this is the first or second time you have been convicted of this charge (or of driving while disqualified or contrary to a limited licence), the maximum penalty is imprisonment of up to 3 months or a fine of up to $4500. The Court must disqualify you from driving for 6 months or more.
If this is the third or more time you have been convicted of this, there is a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison and a $6000 fine. The court will order you to be disqualified from holding a drivers licence for at least a year.
Likely sentence:
Joe will be disqualified from driving for a further six months. This period only begins when his original suspension finishes. All up, he will be disqualified from driving for nine months. He is likely to be fined around $300-500 and ordered to pay court costs of $130. If he couldn’t afford to pay the fine (or he hadn’t paid the speeding tickets he accumulated), he could be sentenced to around 40-60 hours of community work instead.
After his car has been impounded for 28 days, he will need to collect it from the storage provider and pay the storage and towing costs of around $400.
Special notes:
If Joe had been driving his mother’s car instead of his own when he got stopped, he would still have had it impounded. His mother could appeal the impoundment to the Police but there are very limited grounds for any appeal, (e.g. such as the car was stolen at the time or the owner couldn’t reasonably have known that the person driving was suspended).