Careless driving offences in Queensland

What careless driving means

In Queensland, careless driving is driving a motor vehicle either without due care and attention, or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road or place.

Because of the first limb, the offence is commonly called driving without due care and attention.

The provision is section 83 of the Transport Operations (Road Use Management) Act 1995, which reads:

Any person who drives a motor vehicle on a road or elsewhere without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other persons using the road or place is guilty of an offence.

How a court assesses it

The definition needs a further definition, because the real question is how a court decides whether the attention paid or consideration given was enough.

Courts have avoided laying down a black and white set of rules, and instead apply a version of the reasonable person test. A lack of due care is generally described as a failure to exercise the degree of care and attention that a reasonable and prudent driver would have exercised in the circumstances.

The standard is not that of an unusually cautious driver, and it is not what you personally think was adequate. It is measured against the standard of the average person who has regard for the safety and rights of others.

In short:

• the test is objective, not subjective; and
• it compares what you actually did against what a hypothetical reasonable driver, taking appropriate care in all the circumstances, would have done.

That is why the circumstances do so much work. Weather, traffic, visibility, road surface, speed and what else was happening in the vehicle all feed into what a reasonable driver would have done at that moment.

When the charge comes up

There are exceptions, but careless driving usually appears after a traffic incident. If police form the view that you were at fault, there is a reasonable chance they will charge you.

It may not happen at the scene. Police often lay the charge weeks later, after considering the circumstances or after another person makes a complaint. Receiving nothing on the day does not mean the matter is closed.

Note also that the section says a road "or elsewhere". You do not have to be on a public road. Driving on private property is not immune from a police view about your standard of care.

Penalties and disqualification

The maximum is 40 penalty units or 6 months imprisonment, which puts the charge in the Magistrates Court. In practice a court will usually impose a fine rather than a term of imprisonment, although that cannot be taken for granted where the driving was seriously deficient.

The separate consequence that costs most people more is disqualification. The court has a discretion to disqualify you from holding or obtaining a licence for one month or longer. Whether it does, and for how long, depends on the driving itself: speed, location, the degree of danger created, the traffic history and whether anyone was hurt.

A work licence is not available for a careless driving disqualification, which is one reason the exercise of that discretion is worth arguing properly.

When someone is killed or seriously injured

Many careless driving incidents are minor. Some are not. Where a person is killed or suffers grievous bodily harm, police will usually consider dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death or grievous bodily harm instead, which is a very different charge with very different consequences.

Careless driving compared with dangerous driving

Dangerous operation of a motor vehicle is a far more serious charge. It carries substantially higher maximum penalties, including terms of imprisonment measured in years, and higher again where aggravating features such as intoxication, excessive speed or a relevant history are alleged.

The other structural difference is that careless driving is a traffic offence, while dangerous operation is a criminal offence under the Criminal Code. A conviction sits differently on your record and affects employment, travel and licensing in ways a traffic fine does not.

What to do if you are charged

If you have been involved in an incident of any kind, assume a charge is possible even if nothing is said at the scene.

Get advice before you give police a statement. What you say in response to an enquiry about your driving can decide whether the charge is laid at all, and can be very difficult to move away from later.

If a charge is already laid, the two questions are whether the prosecution can actually establish that your driving fell below the objective standard, and if it can, what the appropriate penalty and disqualification should be.