Exceed Speed over 45 km/h

In New South Wales, if you exceed the speed limit by more than 45 km/h police have the power to issue you with a Court Attendance Notice (criminally charge you with this offence). If you are charged with this offence, your licence will be suspended immediately until the court hears and determines the offence. Alternatively, police can issue you with a penalty notice for committing the offence. If the speeding offence was camera detected, TransportNSW has the power to issue you with a penalty notice. If you receive a penalty notice, your licence will be suspended for a period of 6 months.

Additionally, the offence carries a fine of $3,054 and 6 demerit points. This article explains the impact of committing this offence depending on your licence class and the legal options available to you.

Learner Or Provisional Licence Holder

Immediate (Police) Issued Notice of Suspension

As per section 224 of the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW), If you are caught by Police speeding over 45 km/h km/h, they have discretion to issue you with immediate notice of suspension. This essentially is an on-the-spot suspension that is effective immediately which prohibits you from driving until the suspension period lapses. An immediate police suspension is an appealable decision and can be appealed by filing an appeal with any NSW Local Court within 28 days of being issued with the Notice of Suspension. There is a $117 fee which is required to be paid upon filing the appeal and once it has been filed, your matter will be allocated a hearing date for the appeal.

For an immediate licence suspension appeal to be successful, the court must be satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances justifying a lifting of the suspension and the court is prevent from taking into consideration the circumstances of the offence (if you are guilty or innocent or why you were speeding). Courts have interpreted exceptional circumstances to be something that is extraordinary, unusual, and distinguishable from ordinary cases. Exceptional circumstances can be made up of one single factor, or a combination of factors.

Transport Issued Notice of Suspension

Separate to the above, even if you weren’t issued with an immediate notice of suspension, for example, if the offence was camera detected, if you exceed your demerit points by committing this offence (which a Learner and P1 Licence Holder will), you will be suspended. Likewise, you can appeal this decision by filing an appeal at an NSW Local Court within 28 days for a fee of $117. This appeal is comparatively straightforward. The test for the appeal is that you are a “fit and proper person to hold a licence” which is a much lower threshold. The court will have regard to your traffic record, your need for a licence and any rehabilitation that has taken place such as completing the Traffic Offenders Program. After hearing submissions from your solicitor, the court can either dismiss the appeal and you will have to serve your suspension period, vary the suspension period or allow the appeal, in which case you will not have to serve any suspension period.

It is important to note that once a licence appeal against a transport suspension has been filed, you are allowed to continue to drive up until the appeal is determined in court.

If you were speeding and stopped by police and they served you with an immediate notice of suspension, TransportNSW will then issue you with another suspension period. As a Learner or Provisional 1 Licence Holder, you should be aware that the suspension periods are not served alongside each other, and you will receive their transport issued suspension after serving their immediate police suspension period.

Unrestricted Licence Holder

If you are caught by Police speeding over 45 km/h km/h, police also have discretion to issue you with immediate notice of suspension. Even if they don’t, Transport for NSW has the discretion to suspend you for committing the offence.

Exceeding speed over 45 km/h carries a 6-month suspension period from Transport for NSW. Once the fine is paid, Transport for NSW will be sent to you with a Notice of Suspension in mail. The Notice of Suspension will list the date that your suspension period will commence and end. You must file an appeal within 28 days of receiving the Notice of Suspension. The same process under the heading Transport Issued Notice of Suspensions in this article applies.

Please note that as an Unrestricted Licence Holder if you were to commit this offence and it would cause you to exceed your demerit point limit, you will receive a further suspension for exceeding your demerit points which is not appealable.

Making a Court Election

If you do not want to pay the fine or accept the demerit points or deny committing the offence, you can elect for the penalty notice to be dealt with in the Local Court. If you make a court election on a penalty notice for the speeding offence which was issued by transport and have not paid the fine, the suspension period will be removed until the determination of your matter at court. If the court imposes a fine (a conviction is recorded) you will be sent a fresh notice of suspension from Transport NSW which will have to be served unless you file a licence suspension appeal.

Making a court election will not remove or pause an immediate suspension period. In other words, you will be subject to suspension until the determination of your matter at court unless a stay application has been made.

Can I Avoid a Criminal Record for A Speeding Offence?

If you make a court election and the court imposes a conditional release order without conviction or dismissal, a conviction will not be recorded on your criminal history. In turn, the demerit points will not accumulate, and you will not have to pay a fine.

If you have been issued with a penalty notice, court attendance notice or have received a notice of suspension, and are after legal advice and representation, contact Armstrong Legal.