Australian Capital Territory Current Acts

HEAVY VEHICLE NATIONAL LAW (ACT) - SECT 516

    (1)     To enable an authorised officer to exercise a power under this Law, the officer may direct the driver or operator of a heavy vehicle that is stationary or has been stopped under section 513 to move the vehicle, or cause it to be moved, to a stated reasonable place within a 30km radius from—

        (a)     where the vehicle was stationary or stopped; or

        (b)     if the direction is given within the course of the vehicle's journey—any point along the forward route of the journey.

Example—

An authorised officer may direct the driver of a heavy vehicle to move the vehicle onto a weighing or testing device.

    (2)     The direction may be made orally or in any other way, including, for example—

        (a)     for a direction given to the driver of a heavy vehicle—by way of a sign or electronic or other signal; or

        (b)     for a direction given to the operator of a heavy vehicle—by radio, telephone, fax or email.

    (3)     A person given a direction under subsection (1) must comply with the direction, unless the person has a reasonable excuse.

Maximum penalty—$6000.

    (4)     Without limiting what may be a reasonable excuse for the purposes of subsection (3), in a proceeding for an offence against the subsection, it is a defence for the person charged to prove that—

        (a)     it was not possible to move the heavy vehicle because it was broken down; and

        (b)     the breakdown happened for a physical reason beyond the person's control; and

        (c)     the breakdown could not be readily rectified in a way that would enable the direction to be complied with within a reasonable time.