Last year, Canberra experienced its worst yearly road toll in a decade: 18 deaths. Determined to prevent any more deaths, the ACT Legislative Assembly began in August an inquiry into dangerous driving in the ACT.

Today, the ACT Government responded to 28 recommendations from the Standing Committee Inquiry into Dangerous Driving in the ACT, which released its report in April.

Those recommendations, Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury noted, included proposals for law reform; increasing public awareness of aspects of the justice system; providing increasing information and support to victims of crime; and increasing the scope and power of the Sentence Administration Board.

The Government agreed to nine recommendations; to two more as in line with existing Government policy; and in principle to six. It noted seven, and did not agree with four recommendations.

“The Government recognises the ongoing concerns in the community regarding dangerous driving, and the ongoing risk this behaviour poses to the community,” Mr Rattenbury said. “The Government is committed to reducing the incidence of serious offending and road fatalities. The Government further acknowledges the tragic and significant impact of dangerous driving on victims and their families.”

The government reviewed dangerous driving sentences, and determined that there was no downward trend towards lighter sentences in dangerous driving matters. To ensure sentencing legislation was fit for purpose, the government announced last year it would establish a Law Reform and Sentencing Advisory Council, which will provide additional independent support to the government on sentencing practice, Mr Rattenbury said.

The ACT Road Safety Strategy 2020–2025 aims to change harmful road user behaviour through education and compliance action, and strengthen collaboration between the government and stakeholders, Mr Rattenbury noted. The ACT Road Safety Action Plan 2020–2023 aims to reduce speeding and drink and drug driving, and increase protections for vulnerable road users.

The Reducing Recidivism Plan aims to decrease repeat offending by 25 per cent by 2025. Justice reinvestment initiatives, Mr Rattenbury said, include providing justice accommodation; addressing drug and alcohol dependence; supporting mentally ill people; and helping people on bail to comply with their bail conditions.

This week, the government will debate a bill to prohibit unauthorised entry of a motor vehicle without a reasonable excuse.

In June, the government passed the Road Safety Legislation Amendment Bill 2022, which gave police the power to suspend offenders’ licences and confiscate their vehicles, in order to stamp out dangerous driving.

“The ACT Government is committed to the realisation of Vision Zero,” Chris Steel, ACT Minister for Transport, said. “That means zero fatalities or serious injuries on our roads.”

Recommendations

The government agreed to the following recommendations:

• Reviewing dangerous driving sentences to determine if there was a downward trend towards lighter sentences, and if so, consider if guideline judgements were appropriate (completed)
• Changing the name of the offence ‘Culpable driving causing death’ to ‘vehicular manslaughter’, and examine the appropriate penalty in line with that for manslaughter.
• Reviewing leniency for discounts to sentences of serious crimes and repeat offenders, including considering the impact on victims
• Increasing public awareness of how the justice system works, by explaining sentencing decisions in plain English, what is involved in Intensive Correction Orders, and the process and criteria of judicial appointments
• Engaging with victims of crime to provide more transparency about how the transitional release program works (existing government policy)
• Overhauling its data collection on corrections orders for improved analysis (agreed in principle)
• Reviewing and streamlining ACT legislation governing road safety and dangerous driving (agreed in principle)
• Developing a plan on how to improve driver education and intervention programs on dangerous driving, especially in relation to speeding and drink / drug driving (agreed in principle)
• Examining how Intelligent Speed Adaptation can reduce speeding (agreed in principle)
• Providing a status update on scoping and feasibility work on electronic monitoring options
• Monitoring the evidence base for driver impairment following drug intake
• Introducing additional trauma training for health practitioners to improve support to victims of dangerous driving and their families (agreed in principle)
• Providing extra funding to cover the gap on the coronial support list (existing government policy)
• Ensuring that subpoenas issued to victims are trauma informed (for example, avoiding them falling on anniversaries)
• Introducing trauma training for all court staff and judiciary, and ensuring that there are physical arrangements (such as a family room) to minimise the likelihood of interactions between defendants and families and victims at the courts (agreed in principle)
• Requiring the Motor Accident Insurance Commission improve their customer service delivery by being trauma informed
• Access Canberra improving their information sharing with the Motor Accident Insurance Commission

The government noted these recommendations:

• Introducing legislation for a neutral presumption of bail for serious dangerous driving offences such as driving at police and recidivist serious motor vehicle offenders
• The Sentence Administration Board should increase the transparency in their decision making
• The ACT Government should allow for greater information sharing between ACT Corrective Services and the Sentence Administration Board
• The Sentence Administration Board should have the power to inquire into offenders who have been charged (even if not convicted) with breaching conditions of their Intensive Corrections Order
• Introducing a high risk offender scheme, which requires recidivist offenders to demonstrate to a court their fitness to drive
• Urgently funding a trauma service that is available at the scene of an accident and a 24-hour hotline to help victims and their families
• Providing funding for the Victims of Crime Commission to provide a wraparound service for families of victims as a result of dangerous driving; supporting people with non-fatal injuries as a result of dangerous driving; and extending support for victims of ‘negligent driving’

The government did not agree to these recommendations:

• The Sentence Administration Board should have the authority to include restrictions on driver licences or suspend the licence as a parole condition
• Additional funding to the Sentence Administration Board to put in place appropriate guidelines to require that offenders on parole receive medical treatment
• Implementing penalties for leaving the scene of an accident to include passengers, not just drivers
• Providing police with the power to confiscate mobile phones on the spot in serious collisions