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In late October 2006, a seventeen year old P-Plate driver TG was driving home with four passengers from a night out in Byron Bay to their homes in Lismore. He was then aged 17 years and 6 months and had held a provisional licence for three months. He was following another vehicle driven by an acquaintance. The accident occurred shortly after he had overtaken this vehicle across double unbroken separation lines at a speed of slightly over 100 kph on a wet road at night. Immediately after this he negotiated a bend in the road, was confronted with a further bend and lost control of the vehicle, left the highway and hit a tree. The four passengers were killed. TG suffered relatively minor injuries including a fracture of the thumb.
TG was charged with four counts of dangerous driving occasioning death. Following the accident in 2006, the NSW Government implemented new restrictions on provisional licences, making it illegal for P1 drivers to carry more than one underage passenger between 11pm and 5am. Judge Colin Charteris, who presided over this case noted that this change may not be enough. Statistically, people under 26 comprise only 15% of driver licences but are involved in 36% of road fatalities.
TG appealed against the sentences imposed by Charteris DCJ in the District Court in which he was sentenced on 30 January 2009 to 4 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years. Leave to appeal was dismissed by the three judges. In their decision, they discussed that "if a young male is old enough to be licensed to drive a motor vehicle, he is assumed to be mature enough to comply with its conditions and the traffic rules".
TG v R [2010] NSWCCA 28, 2 March 2010
1. Newspaper articles are available on Proquest ANZ Newsstand, available remotely to registered clients of the State Library of NSW. Type in P-plate driver and accidents.
2. “Final Report, Report on Young Driver Safety & Education Programs”, Staysafe Committee, November 2008. This report assesses the overrepresentation of young, novice drivers in road crashes and fatalities in NSW.
3. NSW Centre for Road Safety statistics
4. The following articles are available on AGISPlus to registered clients of the State Library of NSW:
This guide has been developed by staff of the Legal Information Access Centre (LIAC), State Library of NSW. The State Library holds an extensive collection of case law, legislation and looseleaf publications.
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