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Traffic Act 1987
30BCareless driving
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30B Careless driving
(1) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person drives a motor vehicle; and
the circumstances of the driver; and
(c) the manner of that driving results in the death of a person.
Maximum penalty 60 penalty units or imprisonment for
2 years.
(2) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person drives a motor vehicle; and
the circumstances of the driver; and
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(c) the manner of that driving results in serious harm to a person.
Maximum penalty 40 penalty units or imprisonment for
18 months.
(3) A person commits an offence if:
(a) the person drives a vehicle; and
the circumstances of the driver.
Maximum penalty 20 penalty units or imprisonment
for 6 months.
(4) An offence against subsection (1), (2) or (3) is an offence of strict
liability.
(5) It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against
subsection (1), (2) or (3) if:
(a) the defendant, before or while driving, considered whether or
not facts existed and was under a mistaken but reasonable
belief about those facts; and
(b) the mistaken belief was of a kind that a prudent and
competent driver may have made driving with the level of
caution appropriate in the same circumstances as the
defendant; and
(c) had those facts existed, the manner of that driving would not
have constituted an offence.
Note for subsection (5)
The defendant has an evidential burden in relation to this defence (see
section 43BU of the Criminal Code).
(6) For subsection (5), a person may be regarded as having
considered whether or not facts existed if:
(a) the person considered, on a previous occasion, whether those
facts existed in the circumstances surrounding that occasion;
and
(b) the person honestly and reasonably believed that the
circumstances surrounding the present occasion were the
same, or substantially the same, as those surrounding the
previous occasion.
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(7) Despite section 43AN(1)(b) and (2)(b) of the Criminal Code,
section 43AX of the Criminal Code does not apply to an offence
against subsection (1), (2) or (3).