Driving for Work Licences in
Victoria
Work
Driving Licences and Daytime
Driving Licences
There
has never been any such thing as a
"work licence" or "day time
licence" in Victoria. They have
never existed under any
circumstances or for any reason
whatsoever. So you can never get
one. Everyone who tells you they
had one in Victoria is lying. They
were actually driving while
disqualified but were too shy to
tell you the truth.
Conditional
licence
There is no such thing as a
conditional driver's licence in
Victoria. You can never apply for
one. You either have a drivers
licence or you don't. If you have a
driver's licence there is no point
in asking a court to place
restrictions on it. You should be
asking the court not to interfere
with it at all.
Bail
conditions affecting
your right to drive
In some rare cases the court can
ask a person who is applying for
bail to agree not to drive a
motor vehicle at night or on
weekends or outside work hours or at
all. You might agree to those
conditions if you want to be
released on bail. An example of this
is where someone is taken into
custody after using his/her car in a
road rage incident where they have
driven very dangerously and attacked
someone and perhaps have priors for
similar offences. The court has no
power to suspend the person's
drivers licence prior to the hearing
of these types of charges, but the
court can restrict the accused's use
of a vehicle as a condition of
granting bail. If you breach those
conditions you are not breaching a
licence condition and you are not
committing a driving offence. But
you will be in breach of
your bail and you risk being
arrested and taken back into
custody. Asking the court to impose
this type of condition on you
presumes you have a licence to start
with. If the court is obliged to
cancel or suspend your drivers
licence then it is a waste of time
asking the court to impose a
condition on you that you be
restricted in how and when you use
your licence – seeing you won't have
a drivers licence anyway.
Similarly, a person might
agree not drive their vehicle in
certain circumstances as a condition
of a bond or undertaking to be of
good behaviour.
Discretionary
licence loss
A court always has power to
suspend or cancel your drivers
licence for as long as it likes if
you are found guilty of any
offence (s.28 Road Safety Act, s.89A Sentencing Act). If the offence does not have a mandatory licence loss period the
court has power to suspend or
cancel one category of licence
only – such as your heavy vehicle
drivers licence or your motor
cycle licence – and still
allow you to retain a drivers
licence for cars, or vice versa. In discretionary licence loss cases the court does not need to suspend your licence at all or can suspend only one category of licence. See s.28(2) Road
Safety Act.
Mandatory
Licence loss
If
you
are found guilty of any of the
following offences the court
must cancel or suspend your
drivers licence for a period
that is not less than the
minimum period set by
legislation.
Drink
driving.
Drug
driving.
Driving
under the influence of alcohol
or drugs.
Excessive
Speed (more than 25kmh over the speed limit, or more than 130kmh).
Dangerous
Speed. |
Culpable
driving.
Dangerous
driving.
Refusing
to identify driver.*
Some
assaults and other crimes
involving the use of a motor
vehicle. |
* if
convicted.
Conditions
on your drivers licence
VicRoads can impose conditions
on your drivers licence, such as
a condition that you must wear
glasses or have a zero blood
alchol condition or drive only
automatic vehicles. Neither
VicRoads nor the Courts nor the
Police have any power to place a
restriction on your licence that
controls where and when you can
drive your motor vehicle.
Demerit
Points Suspensions
It
is
impossible to
plead or beg
your way out
of a demerit
points licence
suspension. If
the points are
recorded
lawfully the
courts have no
discretion
about whether
or not your
licence gets
suspended or
for how long.
How badly you need a licence
is always irrelevant. You
should seek legal advice if
you want to avoid a demerit
points suspension. See the Demerit
Points page.
Drink
driving charges
If you are facing
mandatory licence
cancellation for drink
driving, the courts
have no power to let
you drive a motor
vehicle for any
purpose whatsoever
during your term of
licence
cancellation.
If
you
have been
served with a
s.51 Notice of
Immediate
licence
suspension, it
is possible to
appeal against
that
suspension and
for the court
to take into
account your
exceptional
circumstances
to let you
have your
licence back
pending the
hearing of
your charges.
Some
people can plead guilty to drink
driving and still keep their driver's
licence. See
the Drink
Driving
page which
sets out the
criteria when
that can
apply.
Speeding
charges
If you are
facing
mandatory
licence
suspension for
a speeding
offence, the
courts have no
power to let
you drive a
motor vehicle
for any
purpose
whatsoever
during the
period of
licence
suspension.
See the Speeding
page.
Barely
a day goes by without someone asking
me if they can get a work licence.
If you still want me to apply to a
Magistrate for a conditional licence so you can
drive only for work purposes I will
be happy to do so. The cost is
$4,000.00, which is about the same as the cost of engaging a barrister to get you acquitted of
traffic charges.
|
