❓ A parliamentary question regarding delays in issuing traffic infringement notices, the potential for appeals due to these delays, and the impact on road safety. The answer acknowledges the delays, explains the reasons, and outlines steps taken to improve the situation.
AnsweredQoN 2927Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
(a) why is it taking so long for people to be issued with infringement notices after the incident occurred;
(b) is there any likelihood that these delays will be improved upon in the near future; and
(i) if not, why not?
(c) are offenders, who receive an infringement notice eight months after the incident occurred, able to appeal on the basis of not being able to correctly nominate the driver given the length of time since the incident; and
(i) if not, why not; and
(d) given infringement notices are a way of making motorists aware of their unsafe driving habits, are such lengthy delays in keeping with good road safety practices?
(b) is there any likelihood that these delays will be improved upon in the near future; and
(i) if not, why not?
(c) are offenders, who receive an infringement notice eight months after the incident occurred, able to appeal on the basis of not being able to correctly nominate the driver given the length of time since the incident; and
(i) if not, why not; and
(d) given infringement notices are a way of making motorists aware of their unsafe driving habits, are such lengthy delays in keeping with good road safety practices?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
31 January 2008
Responded by
Minister for Police and Emergency Services
Response time
71 days
(a) - (b) Numerous factors influence the time limit for the issue of photographic evidence infringement notices which include the introduction of new technology and workload.
WA Police introduced a new large scale infringement processing system which is not anticipated to be completed before April 2008. With any new system there is a period where all staff are trained in processing while still managing the high volume of data received by the Infringement Management and Operations area.
In addition, larger volumes of infringements have been received due to growth in all areas of enforcement, which also impacts on workload with the follow up phone calls and inquiries at Infringement Management and Operations.
New initiatives have been introduced and in an effort to address the situation, a number of staff have been employed and continue to be employed as permanent, casual and temporary employees.
These initiatives have reduced the backlog dramatically and in the last few months this has reduced even further.
(c) Recipients of these notices have the ability to submit a statutory declaration within 28 days of the issue of a notice that they do not know who the driver was, however, they may be subject to a charge under the provisions of Section 58A of the Road Traffic Act that they failed to keep records so they could tell who had been driving their vehicle at the time of the offence.
(d) It is acknowledged that the deterrent effect reduces as the time between offence and infringement issue increases. All efforts are being made to maintain a reduced offence to issue date ratio.
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WA Police introduced a new large scale infringement processing system which is not anticipated to be completed before April 2008. With any new system there is a period where all staff are trained in processing while still managing the high volume of data received by the Infringement Management and Operations area.
In addition, larger volumes of infringements have been received due to growth in all areas of enforcement, which also impacts on workload with the follow up phone calls and inquiries at Infringement Management and Operations.
New initiatives have been introduced and in an effort to address the situation, a number of staff have been employed and continue to be employed as permanent, casual and temporary employees.
These initiatives have reduced the backlog dramatically and in the last few months this has reduced even further.
(c) Recipients of these notices have the ability to submit a statutory declaration within 28 days of the issue of a notice that they do not know who the driver was, however, they may be subject to a charge under the provisions of Section 58A of the Road Traffic Act that they failed to keep records so they could tell who had been driving their vehicle at the time of the offence.
(d) It is acknowledged that the deterrent effect reduces as the time between offence and infringement issue increases. All efforts are being made to maintain a reduced offence to issue date ratio.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
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