Traffic offence lawyer, Melbourne

The charge is not the outcome

People ring having already decided how this ends. They have read the maximum penalty online, worked out how long they will be off the road, and are calling to have it confirmed. Very often it is wrong.

Traffic prosecutions in Victoria run on procedure. Breath testing has to be done a particular way, by a particular person, on a particular device, within particular timeframes. Oral fluid samples have to be handled and analysed to a standard. Speed detection devices have to be tested and certified. When any of that is not right, the evidence can fall over, and a charge that looked unanswerable stops being one.

And where the evidence does hold, the work is not finished. There is still a real difference between a magistrate who has been given nothing and a magistrate who has been given a proper plea, the right material, and a reason to go to the bottom of the available range rather than the middle of it. On a disqualification period, that difference is months of your life.

What Jasmin acts in

Drink driving

The general limit is 0.05. For learner drivers, probationary drivers, and drivers of certain commercial and heavy vehicles it is zero. Licence loss on conviction is mandatory for most drink driving offences, and the minimum period scales with your reading and any prior offences. Expect an alcohol interlock condition and a behaviour change program on top.

The live questions are usually procedural: was the preliminary breath test lawfully required, was the evidentiary sample taken within the statutory window, was the operator authorised, was the instrument working. These are not technicalities in the dismissive sense. They are the conditions Parliament attached to the power, and they either were met or they were not.

Drug driving

Drug driving in Victoria is a presence offence. The prosecution does not have to prove impairment, only that a prescribed illicit drug was present in your oral fluid. That catches people out badly, because cannabis in particular can return a positive result well after any effect has worn off.

The roadside test is a screening test. It proves nothing on its own. What matters is the confirmatory analysis, the certificate, and the chain of custody behind it. If you hold a valid prescription for a relevant medication, raise it immediately, because it changes the analysis entirely.

Careless driving

Section 65 is the charge police reach for after almost any collision. The test is whether you fell below the standard of a reasonable and prudent driver in the circumstances that actually existed. Rain, glare, an unlit vehicle, another driver’s manoeuvre, all of it is in play, and a great many careless driving charges do not survive proper scrutiny of the conditions.

Usually the penalty is a fine and demerit points rather than a cancellation. The trap is the points, because they can be what pushes you past the threshold and costs you the licence anyway. Where injury is alleged, the court’s view hardens considerably.

Dangerous driving

Section 64 is the serious end of the Road Safety Act. Cancellation and disqualification are mandatory on conviction and imprisonment is available. Where serious injury or death is alleged, the matter is not staying in the Magistrates’ Court, and the exposure changes completely.

If police want to interview you about a dangerous driving matter, ring before you go in. An account given at the roadside or in an interview room without advice is extremely difficult to move away from later, and it is frequently the single thing that decides the case.

Excessive speed

At 25km/h or more over the limit your licence is suspended immediately, and at the upper ranges the vehicle can be impounded on the spot. That suspension is administrative, so it takes effect long before a magistrate has looked at anything.

Speed matters turn on the device. Calibration, testing certificates, operator authorisation, and the conditions in which the reading was taken all have to be established properly. Where the reading survives that, the work shifts to the licence.

Driving whilst suspended or disqualified

Courts read section 30 offences as defiance of an order they made themselves, and they escalate quickly. A term of imprisonment is a genuine possibility on a second or subsequent offence, and any new disqualification is stacked on top of the one you were already serving.

The real issue is very often knowledge. There is a meaningful legal difference between a driver who knew and drove anyway and a driver to whom notice never actually got through. Bring every piece of paper you were sent, including the envelopes you never opened.

Getting your licence back

When the disqualification period ends, the licence does not just reappear. For most serious offences you have to apply to the Magistrates’ Court for a licence eligibility order and satisfy a magistrate that you are a fit and proper person to hold one again.

These are won on preparation. Course completion, medical and counselling material where relevant, evidence about work and family need, and a coherent, credible account of what has changed since. Start putting that together months out. Applications that are thrown together get refused, and a refusal makes the next attempt harder.

Demerit points

Twelve points in three years on a full licence, or five points in twelve months on a learner or probationary licence, and suspension is on the table. You are generally offered the choice between serving the suspension or electing a twelve month good behaviour period, and both options have a sting in them. Which one is right depends entirely on your driving history and whether you need the licence to earn.

There is also work to be done further upstream, in challenging the underlying infringements before they ever accumulate that far.

Where these matters are heard

The overwhelming majority of Victorian traffic matters are heard in the Magistrates’ Court. Jasmin appears across the Victorian list, in the CBD and in the suburban and regional registries. Where a matter involves serious injury or death it moves up to the County Court, and the preparation changes accordingly.

What it costs

Fixed fee for most traffic matters, quoted in writing once Jasmin has seen the charge and the brief. You will know the number before any work starts and it will not move unless the matter itself does. The first call is free and there is no obligation attached to it.

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.