New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

ROAD RULES 2014 - REG 10-1

10-1 NSW rule: determination of criminal responsibility

(1) Application of Commonwealth Criminal Code Subject to this rule, Chapter 2 of the Criminal Code set out in the Schedule to the Criminal Code Act 1995 of the Commonwealth (the
"Commonwealth Criminal Code" ) applies to an offence against these Rules as if the Chapter were in force as a law of New South Wales.

Note : Chapter 2 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code codifies the general principles of criminal responsibility.

(2) Offences are strict liability offences An offence against these Rules is a strict liability offence for the purposes of Chapter 2 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code (as applied by subrule (1)), except where these Rules expressly provide otherwise.

(3) General defence of accident or reasonable effort Without limiting any defence under Chapter 2 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code (as applied by subrule (1)), a person is not liable to a penalty for any offence under these Rules if the person proves to the satisfaction of the court dealing with the case that the offence--

(a) was the result of an accident, or

(b) could not have been avoided by any reasonable efforts on the person's part.

(4) Operation of Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 not affected Nothing in these Rules affects the application of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 in relation to these Rules (particularly, Divisions 4 and 5 of Part 2 of that Act).

Note 1 : Divisions 4 and 5 of Part 2 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 contain provisions relating to how offence provisions are to be interpreted. For instance, section 17 of that Act defines the amount of a penalty unit. Similarly, section 18 of that Act sets out rules for interpreting provisions in legislation that impose penalties.

Note 2 : This rule is an additional NSW road rule. There is no corresponding rule in the Australian Road Rules . However, it is intended that each Australian jurisdiction that adopts the Australian Road Rules is to apply the provisions of the Commonwealth Criminal Code to offences against the uniform rules.