Fines & naming another driver – new law

Date created: 29 November 2007

Owner is responsible for some fines

Law applies from: 1 July 2007

Parking fines and traffic camera offences are sent to the vehicle owner. The owner is held responsible for these offences unless:

they can name the driver
or
they have a good reason for not knowing who was driving at the time.

Previously, the police could only require the registered owner of a vehicle to name the driver. Changes to the law allow police to ask anyone who had control of a vehicle to name the driver. (Someone might ‘control’ a vehicle if they had borrowed the car and then let someone else drive it.) In this way, the responsibility for a fine can pass from one person to another until the actual driver is found.

Statutory declaration no longer required

Law applies from: 9 May 2007

A sworn statutory declaration is no longer needed to nominate a driver.

Drivers can now use a nomination statement to name another driver. These forms are available from the Department of Justice's road safety site (link below).

A court could fine you for making a false statement.