VICTORIA OFFENCES
DRIVE IN A DANGEROUS MANNER
In Victoria, driving dangerously under Section 64 of the Road Safety Act is illegal, considering all case circumstances. Charges can arise from exceeding speed limits by over 45km/hr, any speed deemed dangerous, or driving behaviors posing a risk to others or oneself, such as excessive acceleration near pedestrians, ignoring traffic signals, texting while driving, or erratic/aggressive driving.
The Penalty
Whether or not the person holds a driver licence or permit, a court must impose a minimum disqualification period 6 months or 12 months where the vehicle was driven in excess of 45km/hr, as the court sees fit.
Can I Defend The Charge?
Possible defences include identification (if they did not find you driving), factual disputes about whether the police have accurately represented the case against you or whether you were acting under duress or out of necessity.
Whether or not the case is made out against you in relation to dangerous driving needs to be assessed on a case by case basis and a common approach is to use an experienced lawyer to negotiate the charge down to careless driving instead.