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The penalties for driver licence disqualification have changed to ensure they better protect community safety by reducing unauthorised driving and repeat offending.
Lengthy disqualification periods, which can sometimes last for more than ten years, do not deter unauthorised driving and have a disproportionate impact on disadvantaged people, including Aboriginal people and those in regional and rural areas.
These reforms reduce reoffending by providing new ways for people to return to lawful and regulated driving.
Stronger powers for police to deliver swift and certain justice protect community safety by keeping repeat offenders and dangerous drivers off our roads.
The driver licence disqualification reforms:
The powers of police officers have been expanded to enable the on-the-spot confiscation of number plates or vehicles of those who continue to drive while unlicensed or disqualified. This allows police to take swift action in appropriate cases.
The reforms enable vehicle sanctions to apply where a disqualified driver is caught exceeding the speed limit by more than 30km/hour.
Police can also impose longer on-the-spot vehicle sanctions for repeat offenders who have two or more prior convictions for certain driving offences within the past five year period. These offences include driving while unlicensed or disqualified and applying for a licence without mentioning their disqualification.
These sanctions continue to apply only to a disqualified driver who is also the registered operator of the vehicle.
The driver licence disqualification removal scheme encourages eligible persons to comply with their licence disqualifications so that they can return to lawful driving.
Certain disqualified drivers can apply to the Local Court to have their disqualification lifted early if they have complied with their disqualification period for a minimum of two or ;four years (depending on the circumstances of their case).
Under the scheme, a four year offence-free period applies to persons convicted of certain offences that pose a risk to public safety, whether or not the licence disqualification for that offence has been completed. A two year offence-free period applies in other cases.
The Local Court must consider community safety in determining whether lifting a disqualification period is appropriate. Drivers who have had their disqualifications lifted will still need to apply to Roads and Maritime Services and complete standard road safety and knowledge tests to get their licence back.
To protect community safety, disqualified drivers convicted of serious driving offences are ineligible to have their disqualifications lifted. A disqualified driver who has at any time been convicted of one of these serious driving offences will never be eligible to apply to remove their licence disqualification:
For more information on these serious driving offences, download Summary table
Maximum penalties for unauthorised driving offences are now more proportionate to other driving offences. Before the reforms, penalties for repeat unauthorised driving offences in NSW were similar to the State’s maximum penalties for more serious offences such as high range drink driving.
Minimum and automatic disqualification periods also now apply to unauthorised driving offences, as per other traffic offences. For example, if an offender is convicted of driving while their licence is disqualified, cancelled or suspended, the automatic disqualification for the first offence is six months. This can be varied by the court, depending on the individual case, but can be no less than the set minimum disqualification period of three months.
The automatic disqualifications and minimum periods vary by offence and increase for second and subsequent offences. Multiple disqualifications for unauthorised driving offences run concurrently, unless otherwise ordered by the court (as with other driving offences, such as drink driving).
Before the reforms, a person was automatically declared a HTO when convicted of three relevant driving offences in a five-year period, and was banned from holding a driving licence for five years. This ban applied in addition to the penalties received for the original driving offences and ran consecutively, leading to lengthy disqualifications and even lifetime bans.
The HTO Scheme has been abolished. Data from the Bureau of Crime Statistic and Research (BOSCAR)’s report, The deterrent effect of higher fines on recidivism: Driving offences, published in the Crime and Justice Bulletin in 2007, showed that longer disqualification periods have little to no deterrent effect.
The study suggested that longer licence disqualification periods may actually increase the risk of reoffending in some cases.
Under the reforms, existing HTO declarations remain valid, however a HTO can still apply to the Local Court to have their existing declaration quashed. The HTO will also be able to apply to have their disqualification lifted, if they have complied with their disqualification for a minimum of two or four years (depending on the case) and have not been convicted of any of the serious driving offences described above.
If you have complied with your disqualification period for a minimum of two or four years (depending on your case) and have no convictions for driving offences involving death or grievous bodily harm or other serious driving offences described above, then you may be eligible to have your disqualification lifted.
For more information on eligibility and how to apply;
06 Mar 2024