Law has finally caught up with an Indian licence holder who continued to drive on New South Wales roads, despite committing multiple traffic offences.
In August, Rizwan Singh Sekhon was pulled up by the NSW police for driving at 203 km/hr in a 100 km/hr zone on a Sydney motorway with three passengers on board. The 20-year-old was racing his flatmate when he was intercepted by the police.
But upon stopping him, the police discovered that the man already had 11 demerit points on his account that he had accrued last year for jumping a light and speeding.
On Wednesday, Mr Sekhon who came to Australia on a student visa two years ago pleaded guilty to charges of reckless driving, speeding and racing in the Parramatta Local Court. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Representational image. Source: YouTube/Transport for NSW
"A visiting driver, just like an NSW licence holder, can have driving sanctions applied because of excessive demerit points or speeding and can be disqualified from driving by the courts for serious traffic offences like drink or drug driving or driving in a manner that is dangerous," said the spokesperson.
‘Overseas licence holders are exploiting a legal loophole’
But NRMA claims that while individuals are copping up demerit points and even cash fines, the points are not being attached to their accounts, enabling overseas licence holders to get away with traffic offences.
“This is a huge legal loophole that overseas licence holders often exploit. It is applicable in cases where a driver is on a student visa and that allows him to drive on an international licence as long as the licence remains current and valid.
“It appears that individuals break the law, notch-up cash fines and demerit points when they get caught. They then pay the fine and get away with the demerit points, which do not get attached to their accounts,” said Mr Khoury.
As per the state traffic laws, if Mr Sekhon had an NSW licence, he would have been a P plater and would have been long banned from the road, as P platers with more than 4 demerit points end up with a suspended licence in NSW.
The image is for representation only. Source: Getty
Mr Sekhon isn’t the only one. Data obtained by under Freedom of Information reveals that 22,545 infringement notices were issued to international licence holders in the past year.
“We’re hoping that such cases would highlight the issue and the loophole will be closed quickly to prevent other international licence holders from taking advantage of the system,” added Mr Khoury.
