Some Government depts ‘ignore traffic law’
PA Invercargill Some Government departments escaped minor traffic. offences “scot free.” the Invercargill Chief Traffic Officer (Mr G. M. Cockroft) has told th. Traffic Institute’s conference. The Crown could not be prosecuted for failing to comply with requests for information on the identity of drivers, he said. As a result, some Gove r n m e n t departments chose not to supply the details and got off “scot free.” Mr Cockroft referred to
a letter from the Attor-ney-General (Mr McLay) who was asked to investigate the anomaly. Mr McLay said he had been advised by the Solic-itor-General (Mr R. C. Savage Q.C.) that section 67 (1) of the Transport Act was binding on the Crown. If the Crown failed to comply with a request for identity details it could not be'prosecuted. This was because the Transport Act did not say that the Crown was in tended to be criminally liable, and the Crown was not bound by the Sum-
mary Proceedings Act, 1957. Mr McLay said it seemed wrong for Government departments not to give information when asked. The State Services Commission agreed with his view, and would circulate ♦o all permanent heads of department to that effect. On Mr Cockroft’s suggestion, the conference resolved to refer the matter of Crown immunity to the executive for more consideration. Government department drivers in Christchurch had not escaped prosecution because of the apparent loophole, said the Ministry of Transport’s Chief Traffic Officer (Mr R. W. Fox) last evening.
“Local heads of departments almost invariably [ supply the necessary I details regarding the iden- | tity of drivers and so on. If "there is any problem, we go to the head offices,” he said. The situation at Invercargill could be different because the city’s transport department was not part of the Ministry of Transport. “No Government employee is immune from prosecution here. We quite often issue offence notices to policemen on duty and to our own officers,” Mr Fox said.
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Press, 11 October 1979, Page 10
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332Some Government depts ‘ignore traffic law’ Press, 11 October 1979, Page 10
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