Melbourne traffic offence lawyer
Losing your licenceis not a foregone conclusion.
Drink driving, drug driving, careless and dangerous driving, excessive speed, and licence appeals across the Victorian Magistrates’ Court. Ring Jasmin and find out where you actually stand, before you plead to anything.
Start here
What have you been charged with?
Pick the charge. You will get where it is heard, what it actually puts at risk, and the one thing worth doing before your first mention. No form, no email address, no wait.
Drink driving
Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) s 49
- Heard in
- Magistrates’ Court of Victoria
- What’s at stake
- Loss of licence is mandatory on conviction for most drink driving offences, and the minimum period climbs with your reading and any prior offences. Expect an alcohol interlock condition, a behaviour change program, and a fine. A conviction can also show up on a police check.
- First move
- Do not plead guilty by post to get it over with. Once you are convicted the licence period is largely locked in. Get the police brief, check the breath or blood testing procedure, and work out whether the reading itself is arguable before you enter any plea.
Drug driving
Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) s 49
- Heard in
- Magistrates’ Court of Victoria
- What’s at stake
- This is a presence offence, not an impairment offence. The prosecution does not have to show the drug affected your driving, only that a prescribed illicit drug was in your system. Cannabis in particular can return a positive result long after use. Licence loss on conviction is mandatory.
- First move
- Get the oral fluid analysis certificate and the chain of custody. The roadside test is a screening test only, and the confirmatory analysis is where these matters are won or lost. If you hold a prescription, say so early, because it changes the analysis.
Careless driving
Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) s 65
- Heard in
- Magistrates’ Court of Victoria
- What’s at stake
- Usually a fine and demerit points rather than a licence cancellation, but the points can be what tips you over the threshold and takes your licence anyway. If someone was injured, the court takes a much harder view and the exposure changes.
- First move
- Careless driving is a lower bar than dangerous driving, and police charge it readily after any collision. That does not make it made out. The question is whether you fell below the standard of a reasonable driver in those exact conditions, and that is frequently arguable.
Dangerous driving
Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) s 64
- Heard in
- Magistrates’ Court, or County Court where serious injury or death is alleged
- What’s at stake
- This is the serious end. Licence cancellation and disqualification are mandatory on conviction, imprisonment is available, and where injury or death is alleged the matter moves up to the County Court and the exposure is very different.
- First move
- Do not talk to police before you have advice. Dangerous driving turns on speed, conditions, visibility and manner of driving, and an account given in a record of interview at the roadside is very hard to walk back later. Ring before you are interviewed, not after.
Excessive speed
Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) and Road Safety Road Rules 2017
- Heard in
- Magistrates’ Court of Victoria
- What’s at stake
- At 25km/h or more over the limit your licence is suspended immediately and the vehicle can be impounded at the higher ranges. Suspension is administrative, so it bites before you ever see a magistrate.
- First move
- Check the device, the calibration, the testing certificate and the operator. Speed matters are technical, and the evidence has to be proved properly. If the reading holds up, the work shifts to protecting the licence rather than fighting the fact.
Driving whilst suspended or disqualified
Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) s 30
- Heard in
- Magistrates’ Court of Victoria
- What’s at stake
- Courts treat this as defiance of an order they made, so it escalates fast. A term of imprisonment is a real possibility on a second or subsequent offence, and a further disqualification is stacked on top of the one you were already serving.
- First move
- There is a genuine difference between not knowing you were suspended and knowing and driving anyway. Whether notice actually reached you is often the live issue. Bring every piece of paper you were sent, including anything you never opened.
Licence appeals and restoration
Licence eligibility order, Magistrates’ Court
- Heard in
- Magistrates’ Court of Victoria
- What’s at stake
- Once your disqualification period is served, the licence does not simply come back. For most serious offences you have to apply to a magistrate and satisfy them you are a fit and proper person to drive again. Turn up underprepared and you wait longer.
- First move
- These applications are won on preparation, not advocacy on the day. Course certificates, medical and counselling material, work and family evidence, and a coherent account of what has changed. Start assembling three months out, not three days out.
Demerit points and suspension
Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic)
- Heard in
- Magistrates’ Court of Victoria on appeal
- What’s at stake
- Twelve points in three years on a full licence, or five points in twelve months on a learner or probationary licence, and you are looking at suspension. If you drive for work, that is not a fine, that is your income.
- First move
- You are usually offered a choice between taking the suspension or electing a twelve month good behaviour period. Both have a sting, and the right answer depends on your history and your work. There are also grounds to challenge the underlying infringements before it ever gets to that point.
General information about Victorian law, current at the time of writing. It is not legal advice and every matter turns on its own facts. Speak to Jasmin about your circumstances before you make any decision.
Practice areas
Three areas. One lawyer across all of them.
Most of Jasmin’s work is traffic. It is where the volume is, where the law is technical, and where the difference between a prepared lawyer and an unprepared one is measured in years of disqualification.
Primary practice
Traffic offences
Drink and drug driving, careless and dangerous driving, excessive speed, driving whilst suspended, and getting a licence back after disqualification. Most people who ring Jasmin are not criminals. They are drivers who made one bad call and now stand to lose the thing that gets them to work.
- Drink driving
- Drug driving
- Careless driving
- Dangerous driving
- Excessive speed
- Suspended or disqualified driving
- Licence appeals
- Demerit points
- Vehicle impoundment
- Interlock conditions
Practice area
Criminal law
Assault, family violence and intervention orders, drug matters, theft and burglary, fraud and deception, and bail applications. Clear advice on where you actually stand, and representation that does not fold at the first mention of a plea.
Read more
Practice area
Commercial law
Contracts read properly before you sign them, business structures, commercial disputes, leases, and the sale or purchase of a business. Practical, commercial, and priced so you know the number before the work starts.
Read moreWhy Jasmin
A small firm is the point, not the compromise.
One lawyer, all the way through
Big firms move your file down the chain. Here there is no chain. The person who hears your story on day one is the person who knows the brief cold on the day, because she is the only person who has touched it.
Straight answers, including the ones you do not want
If the evidence is against you, Jasmin will say so on the first call and put the work into the plea and the licence period instead of taking your money to lose slowly. If there is a fight worth having, she will tell you that too.
You will know the fee before you commit
Fixed fees on most traffic matters, quoted in writing once she has seen what is involved. No hourly meter, no surprise invoice after the hearing.
How it runs
From the first call to the courtroom door.
A call that costs nothing
Ring and tell Jasmin what happened. She will tell you straight whether you have something worth fighting, what the realistic range of outcomes looks like, and what it will cost. No obligation, and no pressure to retain her on the call.
The conference
You sit down together, go through the police brief line by line, and build the strategy. This is where the plea question actually gets decided, on the evidence, not on a hunch about what is easier.
Your day in court
Jasmin appears for you. Not a junior you have never met, not an agent briefed that morning. The person who took your first call is the person standing up when your name is read.
About
Most of her clients have never been in trouble before.
They are tradies, nurses, delivery drivers, parents on the school run. People whose licence is not a convenience, it is the thing the whole week is built on.
That is the practice Jasmin has built. Traffic law is technical, the procedure around breath testing and oral fluid analysis is exacting, and police get it wrong more often than people assume. The gap between a driver who turns up alone and one who turns up prepared is measured in months of disqualification.
She also acts in criminal matters and commercial matters, and works out of Melbourne across the Victorian court list.
More about JasminFAQ
Questions people actually ask
Will I lose my licence for drink driving in Victoria?
For most drink driving offences, licence loss on conviction is mandatory, and the minimum disqualification period rises with your reading and with any prior offences. The real questions are whether the charge is properly made out at all, whether the testing was done correctly, and what can be put to the magistrate to keep the period at the shortest available. That is the work.
Can I just pay the fine and forget about it?
Sometimes, and sometimes that is a very expensive shortcut. Paying an infringement or pleading guilty by post can lock in demerit points, a suspension or a conviction that follows you for years. Have a five minute conversation before you sign anything. It is free and it is the cheapest advice you will ever get.
Do I need a lawyer for a Magistrates’ Court traffic matter?
You are entitled to appear yourself. Whether you should is a different question. Magistrates hear these matters all day and they can tell in ten seconds whether the person in front of them has prepared. If your licence, your job or your record is on the line, the cost of representation is usually a fraction of what an unrepresented outcome costs you.
How much will it cost?
Jasmin quotes a fixed fee for most traffic matters once she has seen what she is dealing with, so you are not watching a clock. You will have the number in writing before any work starts, and it will not move unless the matter itself moves.
I have been charged but my court date is months away. Should I wait?
No. The months before a hearing are when matters are won. That is when the brief is obtained and picked apart, when negotiations with the informant happen, and when the material that actually moves a magistrate gets assembled. Ringing the week before is ringing too late.
Do you cover courts outside the Melbourne CBD?
Yes. Jasmin appears across the Victorian Magistrates’ Court list, including the suburban and regional registries. Ring and ask about your listing.
Your first call costs nothing.
Tell Jasmin what happened. She will tell you what you are facing, whether it is worth fighting, and what it will cost. Then you decide.