When the Road Rules 1999 were introduced and the Road Safety (Traffic) Regulations 1988 repealed, the Supreme Court had the opportunity to rule not once but twice that charges alleging offences against the repealed laws were null and couldn't be amended: Flanagan v Remick (2001) 35 MVR 289; (2001) 127 A Crim R 534; Ciorra v Cole (2004) 42 MVR 547.
It will be just as important for the police to start using the new offence provisions from today. From today, any charges that claim to allege offending against the now-expired regulations will be null.
You might also remember Dr Manhattan's post about the other new regulations pending.
They too are also now out:
- Road Safety (Drivers) Regulations 2009
- Road Safety (General) Regulations 2009
- Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2009
- Road Safety (Traffic Management) Regulations 2009
These regulations also commence operation today.
1 comment:
Don't forget the last minute changes to some of those regs, in the Road Safety Road Rules Further Amendment Regulations 2009 and the Road Safety (Drivers) Amendment Regulations 2009, enacted just last week...
Also, there's an interesting contrast between the new Victorian road rules and the new NSW ones: the latter are subject to the Commonwealth Criminal Code and are strict liability offences, whereas Victoria's are subject to the common law and (presumably) are mostly absolute liability offences.
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