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The traffic offenders’ program is a course which has been designed to educate people who are pleading guilty or been found guilty of traffic offence. The Criminal Procedure Regulation (NSW) 2010 regulates how the program is delivered. The objective of the program is providing a community-based road safety educational program which aims to: “…provide the offenders with the information and skills necessary to develop positive attitudes to driving and to change driving behaviour, and to develop safer driving behaviour in the offenders.” The program is also regularly completed by people appealing the suspension of their licence. In 2015 the Increased Traffic Offender Penalties (ITOP) scheme made completion of a traffic offenders program mandatory for:
Courts generally accept that a person who has completed an approved traffic offenders’ program is less likely to commit further offences. When facing serious traffic offences this may result in a lesser penalty. If you are appealing a licence suspension it may increase the likelihood of a favourable outcome. Many of our clients who complete the course say that they learned a great deal from it. Some feel so strongly about the program that they believe it should be mandatory for all drivers to complete it. You need to complete a traffic offenders program before your matter is finalised in court. Proof of enrollment is enough, and a court will not take that into account. If you find that you cannot book into, or complete a course before your matter is finalised, speak to one of our lawyers. Most courts allow matters to be adjourned to another date so that you can complete a traffic offenders program.
Content may vary slightly between different program providers however all approved providers are required to cover a number of core modules. There are eight mandatory modules which are:
Courses are usually delivered using a mix of power point presentations, guest speakers, and video presentations.
It used to be possible to complete a traffic offenders’ program in one day. Recent amendments mean that it must now be completed over a minimum of two separate days and those day need to have a seven-day gap in between. Most courses are now delivered over two consecutive Saturdays or Sundays. Class sizes have also been reduced. It is now recommended that the number of participants in a class should not exceed 30.
All approved traffic offenders programs are delivered on a ‘cost recovery’ basis. This means that they are all ‘not for profit’ organisations. Prices vary slightly from course to course but are between $150 – $200.
Below are links to a number of approved course providers. Click on each logo to visit their website. The NSW Justice Department has also created a downloadable suburb by suburb list of Approved Traffic Offenders Programs.
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