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ARTICLE · 01 JULY 2015

Not the job of a prosecutor to spell out - Reasonable Steps

Holding Redlich
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What is reasonable must vary from case to case, depending on all of the circumstances the capacity of each charge.

AustraliaTransport
Geoff Farnsworth
Geoff Farnsworth
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The Chain of Responsibility (CoR) imposes 'secondary liability' as a result of 'primary liability'. In terms of speeding offences, the primary liability is that of the speeding truck driver and the secondary liability is imposed on those responsible for the acts of the driver.

This secondary liability is almost a strict liability, but subject to the reasonable steps defence under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL). The crucial question is: What is considered 'reasonable'?

In Dranmore Pty Ltd & Ors v Bimson (2014), various companies in the Dranmore Group, as well as two directors, were charged with 237 speeding offences.

Dranmore argued that the prosecutor had an obligation to identify the reasonable steps that Dranmore should have taken, relying on the legal principle that a person charged is entitled to know all elements of the alleged offence, and that in CoR cases the failure to take all reasonable steps is an element of the offence.

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