Charges: Fail to Nominate Driver when requested to do so by a police member acting in the execution of their duties. Section 60 of the Road Safety Act Victoria.
Facts: The client was at a party. His friend was driving his car that night as the client was suspended from driving. Police allege they saw the vehicle involved in a burnout. They caught up with the client later and asked him who was driving the car that night.
The friend was also unlicensed at the time. The client, not wanting to get his friend into trouble, opted not to tell police anything. The police then charged the client with failing to provide information relevant to the identification of the driver.
Results: As it happened, the client’s friend was charged that same night with drink driving while driving the client’s vehicle. Also, the client’s car was a 1993 front wheel drive, automatic Mitsubishi. To suggest that this car was involved in burnouts was fairly unlikely.
If the client had been convicted on the charge there would have been a mandatory minimum of 2 years licence suspension. But without conviction, suspension is discretionary.
Following submissions in relation to the above matters, and taking into account the client’s very young age, Her Honour decided not to convict the client and not to interfere with his driver’s licence. The client received a fine with no time off the road.
