3 October 2018

Man who had not held a licence for 23 years caught behind the wheel in Queanbeyan

| Lachlan Roberts
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A 45-year-old man who allegedly had not held a licence for 23 years was caught behind the wheel in Queanbeyan last Friday (28 September).

During a five-day police operation targeting roads in Queanbeyan, Strike Force Puma – which was established this year to target high-risk traffic offenders and disqualified drivers – made several arrests, including a man who had not held a licence since 1995.

Around 10:55 am on Friday morning, police pulled over a Subaru Liberty travelling on Cooma Street, Queanbeyan, for a random breath test. When he was asked to show his licence, the driver was unable to.

Further inquiries at the scene revealed the 45-year-old Queanbeyan man had not held a licence since 1995. He also returned a positive result to his roadside drug test.

He was charged at Queanbeyan Police Station with driving without a licence and will appear in Queanbeyan Local Court on 22 October.

Later that day around 5:45 pm, police also detected an unregistered and uninsured Holden Commodore driving along Southbar Road, Karabar. A 30-year-old Queanbeyan man, who was allegedly disqualified from driving until 2036, was driving the sedan. He was arrested and charged with driving whilst disqualified, driving an unregistered vehicle, driving uninsured vehicle and drive vehicle with road tax not paid.

He was granted bail and will appear at Queanbeyan Local Court on 22 October.

Around 5:15 pm on Saturday (29 September), police detected a black BMW with ACT registration plates allegedly belonging to another vehicle, being driven along Carinya Street, Queanbeyan.

A 33-year-old Queanbeyan man, who was disqualified from driving until 23 July 2019, was arrested and charged with driving whilst disqualified, drive unregistered vehicle, drive uninsured vehicle, two counts of goods in custody suspected of being stolen (not motor vehicle), possess prohibited weapon and possession of a knife in a public place.

He will appear in Queanbeyan Local Court on 5 November.

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Why are people allowed to buy or possess a motor vehicle without a license?
Car are more dangerous than guns. There are more deaths per car than deaths per gun.
If a person loses the shooters license the police don’t just tell them not to use their guns until they get their license back. Why do people who lose their drivers license get to keep their cars?
Other cars in their household should have a bio-metric lock fitted so the banned driver can’t just start driving the spouse’s car.

Take their cars away and prevent people from buying cars without a current license.

ignatiusjreilly11:31 am 04 Oct 18

I agree, people who lose their licence for a significant length of time should not be able to own a car. However, this would do little to avoid incidents such as this. The car probably wasn’t in his name. Amongst this segment of the community, cars of little value are exchanged for small amounts of cash or drugs. They rarely inconvenience themselves with paperwork.

Mark Ellis – my husband owns a car but he chooses not to hold a licence as he’s getting older . Family members and friends drive him in his car. Not allowing him to own a car would be ridiculous.

I have thought for a long time that vehicles should be fitted with a smart card reader that will link with a card that carries the intending operators licence details, and a biometric marker. To start the vehicle all details need to match.

Capital Retro6:01 pm 06 Oct 18

I think you have to have a driver’s licence to register a motor vehicle.

I believe the ACT revenue people can cancel your driver’s licence if fines are incurred by any vehicle registered to the holder of a licence if the fines are not paid.

On those “Highway Patrol TV programs it amazes me that almost every offender they catch is unlicensed and is driving a unregistered vehicle.

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