Police Powers and Responsibilities (Motor Vehicle Impoundment) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2013 (No. 15) assented by Queensland Parliament

Queensland Parliament has today assented a new act, the Police Powers and Responsibilities (Motor Vehicle Impoundment) and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2013 (No. 15), which aims to amend Chapter 4 of the Police Powers and Responsibilities Act 2000 (QLD) to create new, tougher anti-hooning laws for Type 1 and 2 vehicle impoundment schemes.

The Act expands Type 1 and Type 2 vehicle related offences to include ‘evade police’ offences and ‘high end speeding’ respectively. High end speeding occurs where a person drives more than 40km per hour over the speed limit. Speeding has been identified as a leading factor in road crashes both internationally and in Australia despite current speed management strategies.

These amendments will incapacitate or deter drivers from re-committing these offences through the impoundment of their vehicle with its associated costs.

This approach is also consistent with other jurisdictions:

• South Australia and Tasmania allow for a vehicle to be impounded or clamped for 28 days for the first offence of driving at a speed exceeding the speed limit by 45km per hour or more

• Victoria allows a vehicle to be clamped or impounded for 30 days for the first offence of driving a vehicle at 145 km per hour in a 110km per hour speed zone or for exceeding the speed limit by 45km per hour or more

This Act has been assented to meet the Government’s commitment to introduce the toughest anti-hooning laws in the nation. Additional amendments that address administrative and operational inefficiencies in the Type 1 and 2 vehicle impoundment schemes have also been included in the Act.

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