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Leaving the Scene of Accident
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:21 am
by PFO
Hey all, i only caught this on the news preview but is it true that from midnight last night that anyone leaving the scene of a major accident can face upto 20 years inprisonment? and was this if you were involved or just a passer by?
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:25 am
by Toottoot
It is in response to hit and runs. If they are dead then up to 20 years, if they are seriously injured up to 14 years.
Hit and run
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:35 am
by musketeer
yes and all passengers in the car face a smaller confinement if convicted
Re: Leaving the Scene of Accident
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 4:31 pm
by jasonjag
[quote="PFO"]Hey all, i only caught this on the news preview but is it true that from midnight last night that anyone leaving the scene of a major accident can face upto 20 years inprisonment? and was this if you were involved or just a passer by?[/quote]
No it applys to hit and run drivers only and passengers included, not to bystanders who do not stop to assist,
Also new one PUNCH laws come into force as manslaughter charges, if the victim dies
Posted: Sat Mar 15, 2008 4:34 pm
by musketeer
Good news I think.
A car can and has been used as a weapon, we all know now that a single punch can kill, the excuse of ignorance was always varcarious.
Re: Leaving the Scene of Accident
Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 3:38 am
by Paraman
"If involved in an accident, you must stop and render assistance."
Thats as good as my memory gets, but that is what the Road Traffic Act states, which applies to all drivers on the road, emergency vehicles included.
Re: Leaving the Scene of Accident
Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:34 am
by Clontarf[X]
Paraman wrote:"If involved in an accident, you must stop and render assistance."
Close enough, and is definitely a criminal act. It's used in the context where you are involved in an incident like a hit and run causing injury or death, or if you witness such an incident. It's more to do with showing no regard or intent to assist, than not assisting at all.
Re: Leaving the Scene of Accident
Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:27 pm
by SJANT
There was an interesting case here in the NT where a person drove off after an accident due to violence from bystanders and great personal threat to life from them. Believe it was a car vs pedestrian and there quite a few angry relatives. The courts accepted this was an appropriate thing to do due to the very real threat to the drivers life from the bystanders. I think the driver returned to the scene once police arrived.
Re: Leaving the Scene of Accident
Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 12:47 am
by Tyranus
That's understandable though, I sure as heck wouldn't hang around if people were hurling abuse at me.
Re:
Posted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 7:51 pm
by SOE digital
Toottoot wrote:It is in response to hit and runs. If they are dead then up to 20 years, if they are seriously injured up to 14 years.
I wish that had been the case when my sister was run over years ago. 11 year old girl, hit by a drunk driver doing 80km in a 50 zone. The lady fled the scene but ended up being caught. She got several thousand dollars in fines and banned from driving...even though she didn't even have a license.
Makes me sick.
My sister however, spend the next 13 months in hospital and I have to live with the image of holding the back of my sister's brains in her caved in skull. That's what happens when you've got a legal system, not a justice system.
/end rant