New transport laws introduced

Transport Minister Annette King says the Land Transport Amendment Bill, tabled in Parliament today, provides tougher laws for people who drive under the influence of illegal drugs and greater protection of personal information held on the Motor Vehicle Register.

Ms King says there was considerable public concern expressed about drugged drivers in the See You There – Safe As consultation campaign last year, and the Bill introduces a compulsory roadside impairment test.

Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven says: "The penalties for this new offence have been aligned with the penalties for drink driving, sending a clear message to people who think that they can get away with drugged driving. The new compulsory roadside test will give the police greater powers to catch these people."

Ms King said the Bill also aims to improve protection of personal information held on the Motor Vehicle Register. The Register is administered by Land Transport New Zealand and contains the names and addresses of all persons and organisations registered as owners of motor vehicles.

"In the past, the system has been open to abuse. For example, angry motorists in the aftermath of road rage incidents have used the register to trace and harass the other driver. Professional car thieves have also used the register to target high value cars. Owners of motor vehicles have also been subjected to unwanted approaches from direct marketers," said Ms King.

"The Bill removes the current obligation of the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to release information to anyone who asks for it. Instead requests for information will be dealt with either under the Official Information Act or through an authorised-access procedure."

Mr Duynhoven says the Bill also implements measures to improve the quality of owner information held on the Motor Vehicle Register by tightening up current requirements to register change of ownership and dealing with the problem of vehicles with no known owner.

Questions and answers --- Motor Vehicle Register:

What is the problem with the present law? Any person may, on quoting a plate number of a motor vehicle and paying a small fee, obtain the name and address of the current (and previous) registered owner (s). This information is available from a Post Shop (or other agent of Land Transport NZ) for $2.25. It is also possible for individuals or companies to download from the internet, in bulk, vehicle owner names and addresses without their permission. Concern has been expressed at this practice which is often used by direct mail companies. There are also instances of persons obtaining the name and address of vehicle owners for criminal purposes, such as car theft or harassment. Although it is possible to seek a confidential listing, the criteria are difficult to satisfy.

How will the Bill fix the problems outlined above? The Bill will remove Land Transport New Zealand's obligation to supply names and addresses on request. Applications for release of personal information will be treated like any other Official Information Act request. As personal information is involved, consideration of applications will take into account the information privacy principles contained in the Privacy Act. To guide consideration of official information requests, the Bill will enact a provision stating the purpose of the Register. The proposed purposes are: Law enforcement and security; collection of revenue; transport law and policy.

What will happen to existing bulk users – such as the insurance industry, debt collectors or motor vehicle importers? The Minister of Transport will be empowered to issue an "authorisation" to any person to obtain vehicle owners' names and addresses for any purpose specified by the Minister. Any person will be able to apply for an "authorisation". It will be up to the applicant to make a persuasive case.

What about direct marketing and opinion polling? Some people may wish their details to be released to advertisers. The Minister will be able to issue an authorisation granting advertisers or pollsters access to vehicle owners' names and addresses subject to the vehicle owners having first given permission (eg by way of a tick box on forms) for their details to be released for such purposes.

How will the Minister decide whether or not to issue an authorisation? The Minister will have free discretion. However the Minister will be obliged to first consult the Ombudsman and the Privacy Commissioner.

What if I am still concerned about harassment, despite the new safeguards? It will still be possible to seek a confidential listing.

What effect will this have on routine vehicle-related transactions carried out by the public? None. For example, payment of a licence fee ("registration") does not involve disclosure of owner name and address details from the Register. Notifying change of ownership, cancellation of registration, or application for licensing exemption will also be unaffected.

What if I see a car I like and wish to contact the owner to discuss buying it? In the UK and elsewhere, transport authorities forward enquiries about a vehicle to the registered owner of that vehicle and invite the owner to contact the enquirer directly. No information is released to the enquirer. Land Transport NZ will consider a similar system.

What if I want to buy a car privately and want to know if the person selling it is the registered owner? A new phone and internet service will enable any person to seek confirmation that a specified person is registered as owner of a specified vehicle. The applicant will have to give the name of the presumed owner and the plate number of the vehicle. The system will respond either "yes" or "no". No names will be released.

How will I find out if any money is owing on the vehicle? Security interests in vehicles are recorded on the Personal Property Securities Register. That Register will continue to be a public record.

What about technical details of vehicles? All details of a vehicle (make, model, cc rating, odometer reading, country of origin, whether imported used or new, vehicle inspection details, type of fuel, whether subject to a Warrant of Fitness or Certificate of Fitness, whether reported stolen, the number of owners, etc) will continue to be available to anyone who asks for it.

Improving the quality of personal details on the Motor Vehicle Register Enforcement of certain offences (illegal parking, expired warrant of fitness and licence label, speed camera offences, red light running detected by camera, unauthorised use of bus priority lanes and other special lanes) rely on linking a vehicle to a person. Where the name or address of the owner on the register is out of date or unknown, these offences cannot be enforced. Furthermore, outstanding licence fees cannot be collected.

How does Motor Vehicle Register information get out of date? When a vehicle owner moves without advising LTNZ or sells a vehicle and the required forms are not filed, the information on the Register becomes out of date.

How many vehicles are affected? It is difficult to say. About 100,000 vehicle records are tagged as "owner unknown" or "gone no address", but it is likely that the real number of such vehicles is higher. This is because the problem comes to the attention of LTNZ only when correspondence is returned; an enforcement authority follows up an unpaid offence notice and discovers that the registered owner of a vehicle involved in an offence is no longer at the address recorded in the Register or claims to have sold the vehicle prior to the offence; or a person complains to LTNZ about an offence notice or licence fee demand for a vehicle which the person no longer owns. What does the current law say? Failure to notify change of ownership is an offence. The Courts may impose a fine of up to $500. Failure to supply current address when relicensing is also an offence. There are very few prosecutions.

What is the Government going to do? The Bill will enable the offence of failure to notify change of ownership or change of address to be dealt with by infringement notice, issued by the Police, LTNZ or a local authority. That will facilitate enforcement. The Bill will also empower the Police or parking wardens to order off the road a vehicle not registered in the name, or the address, of the current owner of the vehicle. The order will come into effect at the close of the following working day, to give the current owner time to contact LTNZ in order to update the vehicle's registration details. If the owner does so, the order is cancelled. If a vehicle is driven on a road in breach of such an order, it may be seized and impounded. The vehicle may be held until the owner provides evidence of having updated the registration details. An unclaimed vehicle may be dealt with under the abandoned vehicle provisions of the Local Government Act 1974.

What else does the Bill do? The Bill clarifies and simplifies the definition of moped to make it easier for Police to determine whether a vehicle registered as a moped is correctly registered. There are concerns that small motor cycles are being intentionally registered as mopeds. There is an incentive to do this because mopeds attract a far lower rate of ACC levies than motor cycles and do not require warrant of fitness inspections. Moped riders also need only a class 1 ("motor car") driver licence.

The Bill creates a new category of "supplementary plates" for use on vehicles where a bike rack, dog box or some other attachment obscures the permanently affixed plate.

The Bill empowers the Minister, by notice in the Gazette, to declare which persons may be eligible for trade plates. It also provides for an offence of unlawful or unauthorised use of trade plates, and enables this to be dealt with by way of infringement notice. The Bill empowers enforcement officers to seize plates which are being used unlawfully or which have been recalled by LTNZ. Enforcement officers will also be empowered to seize and destroy fake plates.

The Bill will provide for LTNZ to administer the Motor Vehicle Register in its own right instead of under delegation from the Secretary for Transport. The Bill increases the flexibility of the Act by providing for administrative detail to be dealt with in regulations, instead of being enshrined in statute as at present.

Questions and answers: Drug driving

What is the new offence proposed by the Bill? The Bill proposes a new offence of driving while impaired by illegal drugs, and introduces a duty not to drive while impaired by drugs. There is an existing offence for being incapable of proper control of a vehicle while under the influence of drink or drugs. The offence has proven difficult to prosecute. "Incapable" has been a high threshold to meet, as has establishing that the cause was drugs. A Police Officer will be able to require a driver to undergo a compulsory impairment test when there is good cause to suspect consumption of a drug. Currently, the driver must give informed consent to the test. A driver who is not able to satisfactorily complete the impairment test at the roadside will be required to provide a blood sample.

It will be an offence when: the driver is unable to complete the compulsory impairment test in a satisfactory manner; and the driver's blood contains evidence of an illegal drug. The Bill describes an illegal drug for the purposes of the drug driving offences as specific schedules to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. The blood test, taken as evidence of a traffic related offence, will not be able to be used as evidence of an offence under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975.

What is the impairment test? The test was developed specifically for detecting impairment by drugs, in conjunction with experts from the UK, and has been in use since 2004. The test is currently used at the roadside by 200 trained officers to detect impairment by drugs, but is only carried out when the driver has given informed consent to the test, so the number of tests completed is low. While drivers are being removed from the road by having their keys taken off them, they are not being prosecuted because they are not 'incapable', so the deterrent effect of the test is not being fully utilised. The test is a very effective roadside tool enabling officers to decide whether to pursue the proposed charge of 'impaired' when 'incapable' is not obvious. Roadside tests like this are used extensively in the UK. Trainers from the UK provided training in New Zealand. Tests are still used in some Australian jurisdictions as evidence of lower level offences (these are different offences than those proven by saliva tests). Police are carefully reviewing the impairment test which will be approved by the Minister of Transport, and published in the New Zealand Gazette.

Why is the focus on illegal drugs? The focus on illegal drugs protects users of prescription medicines while enabling the road safety objectives to be met. Any detected impairment would be acted on, usually by taking the keys from the driver. Cannabis is the third most popular drug in New Zealand (behind alcohol and tobacco).

Why aren't we doing saliva testing in New Zealand? The proposed legislation does not allow for the introduction of a device for testing at the roadside. Devices to test saliva or other bodily samples identify the presence of drugs, while the legislation proposes a roadside impairment test. Saliva testing for drugs at the roadside is not recommended at this stage. These measures are not sufficiently focused on road safety to justify such an increase in police powers in terms of the Bill of Rights Act, and in particular the rights of individuals concerning unreasonable search and seizure.

ENDS

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