Traffic Law
Get Legal Advice From Our Traffic Lawyers
Traffic law may seem straightforward initially, but it can quickly become complex and challenging to fully understand.
Different types of traffic offences have different elements, and varying penalties, with some penalties being mandatory.
Our traffic lawyers can assists with you with a range of traffic offences, such as:
- Drink driving (DUI)
- Drug Driving
- Refusing a breath test
- Careless, dangerous or reckless driving
- Careless, dangerous or reckless driving causing bodily harm, grievous bodily harm or death
- Failing to stop when called upon by police to do so (police pursuit)
- Driving without a licence
Frequently Asked Questions
If you are caught driving with a blood alcohol above the legal limit, you can be charged with drink driving. There are a range of different drink driving charges to cover different blood alcohol readings.
Depending on your blood alcohol level, you could face a mandatory licence disqualification.
Our traffic lawyers can advise you on the consequences of conviction for your particular matter. Prior offences can impact your penalty.
Our traffic lawyers can represent you in court for a sentencing or a trial.
It is an offence to refuse a breath test. In some circumstances, the penalty for refusing a breath test can be worse than if you provided the breath test that showed a blood alcohol reading above the legal limit.
Most common traffic offences carry mandatory minimum licence disqualifications.
For those charges, explaining your case adequately to the Magistrate is essential to persuade the court to impose the minimum or near minimum licence disqualification.
Our criminal lawyers will know how to best put your case forward.
This will depend on your traffic matter and whether you have any previous convictions for similar offences.
The police must apply to the Court to have the car confiscated, and a Magistrate or Judge will decide.
If you would like to challenge the confiscation of your car, you must satisfy the court that it would cause severe financial or physical hardship.
If you do not own the car, you may argue that it would cause severe hardship to the owner.
Yes. If you dispute that you were going at that speed, you can elect to have the matter determined by the court.
Usually, you will need to obtain expert evidence to show that:
- The police equipment used to measure the speed was not operating correctly.
- Your car was incapable of driving at the speed alleged.
It is difficult to defend a speeding charge without expert evidence. It is generally accepted that speed cameras and equipment used to measure speed operate correctly and are regularly calibrated.
Yes, but you will need to wait ten years. Once the waiting period has passed, you must apply to the court to have the disqualification removed.
You should obtain legal representation when making an application to the court for the removal of a disqualification. The application requires an application form, a detailed affidavit, supporting documents and a court hearing. A lawyer can advise you on the application.
The application also involves a filing fee imposed by the court.
Extraordinary Driver’s Licence (EDL)
If you have lost your licence because you have been disqualified by a court, then you can apply for an EDL if you meet the criteria and if you have waited the necessary wait time.
You cannot apply for an extraordinary licence if:
- You have been given a roadside licence disqualification by police and you are currently serving that disqualification
- Your licence is suspended because you have unpaid fines
- You lost your licence because you have lost all of your demerit points
- Your licence is disqualified in another State
You should speak to you traffic lawyer to discuss if you are eligible to apply for an EDL.
No. The minimum wait time to be able to lodge your application is 21 days, plus a minimum of 14 days to have your matter listed in court. The wait time is longer for more serious offences, or for repeat offences. This wait time may be reduced by time served on a roadside disqualification.
You should speak to your traffic lawyer to discuss when you can apply for an EDL.
You must be able to prove that without a licence, you or your family will suffer one or more of the below:
- Unable to access urgent medical treatment
- Deprivation of your principal means of obtaining income (financial difficulty)
- Deprivation of the only practical means of travelling to and from a place of employment
It is important to do the EDL application correctly the first time so that you have a good chance of getting the licence.
If your application is refused, you will have to wait months before you can apply again. For some people, 6 months may be a very long time and may cause you to lose your job, or it may be the length of the whole disqualification period.
Therefore, it is important that you have legal advice about how to present your case properly and ways to strengthen your application.
No. An extraordinary licence is only for cases where your licence has been disqualified by a court.
No. An extraordinary licence will only allow you to drive on certain days, at certain times, in certain places and only for specific purposes.
For example, if you need a licence for your work, you will only be able to drive to and from work, or in the course of your work, and this will be limited to the days, hours and locations required for your work. You will be unable to make detours or drive for other purposes, such as grocery shopping.
You will likely be required to keep a log book, and you must record your trips and the purpose for each trip. The police can stop you and check that you are complying with the conditions of your licence.
If you breach your EDL conditions, you may be charged with an offence, and your EDL can be cancelled.