Ministry said violators, if convicted of stunt driving, can have their licence suspended for:
- Up to 3 years for a 1st offence
- 10 years for a 2nd offence
- For life on a 3rd offence
“It’s not worth the risk,” it said.
Considering that stunt driving is a choice to put lives in danger, they don’t care about risk.
Why even bother with a three-strike system for something like this?
Do 3 years in jail with no chance of ever driving again.
I don’t have any good answers. Perhaps the model of other traffic violations can be applied.
Running a red light or stop sign is a pretty minor ticket especially when you consider the potential impact. Yet when you get something like the Broncos and Carberry bus crashes and even much smaller incidents that barely make the news , people go to prison. People are killed pretty regularly as a result of what the fines tell us are pretty minor violations, but we mostly ignore them until a disaster ensues.
For something like stunting, I would be behind a two strikes system for those with a valid license.
Say, $5k fine, 6-12 month license suspension with mandatory classes and retraining, and at least 1 month vehicle impound for first offence.
Second offense could be $10k fine, a few months in jail, permanent suspension, and vehicle confiscation.
If an injury or death occurs or if stunting while suspended or otherwise unlicensed, that becomes a criminal offense with some prison time along with whatever else.
I could be behind that. It’s way better than what’s currently being proposed.