South Australian Current Acts

MOTOR VEHICLES ACT 1959 - SECT 9

9—Duty to register

        (1)         A person must not drive an unregistered motor vehicle, or cause an unregistered motor vehicle to stand, on a road.

Maximum penalty: $7 500.

        (1a)         However, subsection (1) does not apply to a person who drives a motor vehicle, or causes a motor vehicle to stand, if the person proves that the person—

            (a)         drove the motor vehicle, or caused the motor vehicle to stand, in prescribed circumstances; and

            (b)         did not know that the motor vehicle was unregistered.

        (1b)         For the purposes of subsection (1a), a person may prove a matter referred to in that subsection by furnishing to the Commissioner of Police a statutory declaration in accordance with any requirements prescribed by the regulations.

        (1c)         It is a defence to a charge of an offence against subsection (1) if the defendant was not a registered owner or the registered operator of the vehicle and the defendant proves that the defendant did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, that the vehicle was unregistered.

        (3)         If an unregistered motor vehicle is driven or found standing on a road, the owner of the vehicle is guilty of an offence.

Maximum penalty: $7 500.

        (4)         It is a defence to a charge of an offence against subsection (1) or (3) to prove that the motor vehicle was driven or left standing on a road in circumstances in which this Act permits a motor vehicle without registration to be driven on a road.

        (4a)         It is a defence to a charge of an offence against subsection (3) to prove that—

            (a)         the vehicle was not driven or left standing on the road by the defendant; and

            (b)         the defendant had taken reasonable steps to ensure that any person lawfully entitled to use the motor vehicle would have been aware that the vehicle was unregistered.

        (5)         It is a defence to a charge of an offence against subsection (3) to prove that, in consequence of some unlawful act, the vehicle was not in the possession or control of the defendant at the time it was driven or left standing on the road.

        (6)         It is a defence to a charge of an offence against subsection (3) where the defendant is the last registered owner or last registered operator to prove that the defendant was not the owner or the operator of the motor vehicle, as the case may be, at the time of the alleged offence.

        (6a)         The provisions of Schedule 1 apply to an offence against this section if evidence relating to the offence was obtained through the operation of a photographic detection device.

        (6b)         A motor vehicle is driven or caused to stand by a person in prescribed circumstances for the purposes of subsection (1a) if—

            (a)         the person is not an owner or the registered operator of the vehicle and the person is required by the person's employer to drive the vehicle, or to cause the vehicle to stand, in the course of the person's employment; or

            (b)         the motor vehicle is driven or caused to stand in circumstances declared by the regulations.

        (7)         In this section—

"owner", in relation to a motor vehicle, includes the last registered owner and the last registered operator of the vehicle, but does not include a person who takes the vehicle on hire;

"unregistered motor vehicle" means a motor vehicle without registration in force under this Act.