There’s a fine line between carelessness and dangerousness when it comes to driving offences in South Australia.
Driving on the road requires that you drive with due care and attention. This means that you should be able to react to an emergency if it arises, and otherwise pay attention to the road and your surroundings. Of course, some emergencies are impossible to avoid even when driving with due care and attention.
Careless driving is something more than driving with due care and attention, but something less than dangerous. It can look like:
– Ineffective lookout (for example being momentarily distracted by your phone, the radio, or a friend in the car)
– Not leaving enough space and colliding with a stationary object like a parked car (it is your responsibility to know how big your car is)
Driving without due care is an offence that can, but does not always, attract a licence disqualification. If, for example, the careless driving caused serious harm to a person, then a mandatory licence disqualification of six (6) months applies. In any driving without due care case, the Magistrate is empowered to impose a licence disqualification.
Dangerous driving, on the other hand, is much more serious. It often involves, but doesn’t have to, features like:
– Significant speed
– Drugs or alcohol in the blood of the driver
– Deliberate dangerousness (like brake checking or tailgating)
– Lengthy distraction (like playing a game on your phone)
The penalties for dangerous driving can include imprisonment and a mandatory minimum licence disqualification of twelve (12) months. If the dangerous driving causes the death of a person, the mandatory licence disqualification is ten (10) years and the penalty usually includes immediate imprisonment.
As there can be a fine line between what is careless and what is dangerous, it is important to seek legal advice from an experienced criminal lawyer if you are charged with any type of driving offence. It might be the difference between losing your licence or not.
