A motorcyclist recently beat a speeding conviction in a Victorian court by arguing a position based on his belief that the alleged offence was unintentionally committed due to the evasive action he took to avoid an accident !!
(He accelerated to miss a car that pulled out from a driveway without looking)
The rider in his defence was able to refer to an old regulation still on the statute books which stated that an unlawful act can be acceptable provided that :
" necessity makes it lawful any act that which is otherwise unlawful to prevent injury or loss"
For what it's worth
Maybe Slong could have used that one when doing 180 on a country road?
Hi this happens to be tru every time i take a ride around the city , but i dont speed up to go around kangaroo"s in the bush.(*_*)
Yeah, them swooping maggies sure can go fast. bastards.
If this is true then the regulation must have some number or I.D. code under the motor traffic act.
Could be handy if we knew this and maybe one day had the opportunity to use it.
Does any body have access to this information?
I got the info from "Bike Rider" a Saturday morning biking program on 3 AK. ( too early for you blokes ) It came from the president of Vic MRA so I guess they would have all the nitty gritty
Even if it wasn't, I'm not sure my radio has AM
I tried this defence without going to court, ie. wrote in and explained the situation. I wasn't prepared to go to court with the argument and lose.
It basically breaks down to this, breaking the law is not illegal if you are not criminally responsible. I'm pretty sure the term 'criminally responsible' is a legal term, any sharks out there may be able to value add (or will that cost money)
This is a common law defence of 'emergency'.
The defence has been codified in QLD into the Criminal Code but can be applied in any state - being common law.
The defence is basically :
25 Extraordinary emergencies
Subject to the express provisions of this Code relating to acts done upon compulsion or provocation or in self-defence, a person is not criminally responsible for an act or omission done or made under such circumstances of sudden or extraordinary emergency that an ordinary person possessing ordinary power of self-control could not reasonably be expected to act
otherwise.
A common example may be taking the pregnant wife to hospital / trying to outrun the cops - these sorts of things.
Cheers,
Adrian
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