Jessica Falkholt dies following crash: Tragic toll of failed road laws
THE government decided to go soft on our worst driver criminals late last year — even as figures showed idiot motorists regularly flouting the law were rising dramatically.
NSW
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THE state government has quietly slashed penalties for motorists who drive while disqualified and dropped its Habitual Traffic Offenders scheme despite the number of banned drivers committing offences reaching a new high.
The decision to soften penalties was made late last year despite research showing idiots who drive while disqualified are three times more likely to be involved in fatal crashes, like the tragedy which yesterday finally claimed the life of Home and Away actor Jessica Falkholt.
The damning statistic comes from a US study cited by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR).
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal the state’s appalling driving record with 38,848 drivers currently disqualified and almost one-third of them declared habitual traffic offenders, who have been convicted of three or more serious traffic offences within five years. Seventeen motorists have received life bans.
Last year, 12,121 drivers were caught driving while banned on the state’s roads, a 26 per cent rise compared to 9638 offenders five years ago.
Jessica, 29, died in St George Hospital six days after her life support was turned off after the December 26 head-on crash on the NSW South Coast which killed her sister Annabelle, 21, and parents Lars, 69, and Vivian, 60.
Their car was hit head-on by a 4WD driven by Craig Whitall, a methadone user who had been given his licence back 12 months earlier despite 25 convictions and jail terms for driving while disqualified.
Whitall, who was also killed, had also been previously declared a Habitual Traffic Offender, which automatically results in a five year disqualification from driving.
Opposition roads spokesman Jodi McKay called for the issue of Habitual Traffic Offenders to be put back on the table and properly examined by a parliamentary inquiry.
“While there should be more appropriate penalties for those who drive while disqualified, the government must also be doing more to identify those at risk of becoming habitual reoffenders,” Ms McKay said.
Craig Whitall, who killed Falkholt family, had over 200 convictions
When the government announced that it was ditching the HTO scheme on October 27 last year “because it didn’t work”, it cited a decade-old BOCSAR report that said “longer disqualification periods have little to no deterrent effect” on traffic offenders.
It also based the decision on recommendations from a 2013 parliamentary committee which referred to the same March 2007 BOCSAR report.
But yesterday BOCSAR appeared to distance itself from the government’s stance, stating it had never specifically examined the impact of the scheme.
“The (March 2007 report) found that longer licence disqualifications have little to no deterrent effect and, in fact, for some driving offences (e.g. speeding), may actually increase the risk of reoffending,” a BOCSAR spokeswoman said.
“The 2013 inquiry into driver's licence disqualification reform did cite this BOCSAR report as evidence to suggest that the additional disqualification periods mandated by the habitual traffic offender (HTO) scheme were ineffective.
“However, as BOCSAR has never undertaken any research into the HTO Scheme we cannot comment of the HTO Scheme’s effectiveness.”
Releasing the report in 2007, the bureau’s director Dr Don Weatherburn said it was possible that “higher fines and longer disqualification periods exert a general deterrent effect”.
In October, the Government also halved the maximum penalties for driving while banned to six months for a first offence or 12 months for a second offence.
The NSW Sentencing Council, which included police, judges and community members, was never asked to look at the effectiveness of the HTO scheme.
Council members and victims’ advocate Howard Brown yesterday called for a “three strikes” policy in which disqualified drivers caught a third time are automatically jailed for five years.
He said it was ridiculous that every year thousands of banned drivers flaunting the laws get off with a fine. If the fine isn’t paid, the State Debt Recovery Office suspends their driving licence.
“Hello? Are all our ministers going to St Vincent’s Hospital before they are sworn in and having their brains removed and a stainless steel rod inserted to prevent their heads from collapsing on themselves?” Mr Brown said.
“Why in Heaven’s name would you suspend the licence of someone whose licence has already been suspended? There is no deterrent to driving while disqualified.”
A NSW Government spokesman said the abolition of the HTO scheme was supported by the bipartisan Parliamentary Committee on Law and Safety.
“BOCSAR’s research demonstrates that long disqualification periods — like the kind automatically imposed by the HTO scheme — do not improve community safety,” he said.
Under the October reforms, police can confiscate numberplates or vehicles for three or six months for repeat unauthorised drivers and those who commit certain serious driving offences.
STUNNED STARS’ SAD GOODBYE TO JESSICA
Devastated cast and crew of top Aussie soap Home and Away yesterday spoke of actor Jessica Falkholt’s contagious smile as the rising 29-year-old lost her fight for life.
Jessica died at Sydney’s St George Hospital six days after her life support was turned off following the Boxing Day head-on crash that claimed the lives of her sister Annabelle, 21, and their parents Lars, 69, and Vivian, 60 as the family returned home to Sydney after spending Christmas at Ulladulla.
Family and friends said they gained some comfort that she was “back with her family”.
Best known for her role as Hope Morrison in Home and Away, Jessica was remembered as being on the brink of a stellar career having just finished new Australian supernatural thriller Harmony.
Fellow Home and Away star Pia Miller posted “farewell wonderful Jess” on her Instagram page.
Co-star James Stewart’s social media fan page also farewelled the rising star.
“R.I.P. Jessica Falkholt. Such a beautiful and talented soul — taken so soon & so tragically. May you now rest in peace alongside Annabelle, Lars and Vivian. Sending my deepest sympathy to the extended Falkholt family & friends,” he wrote.
Aussie actor Shannon Deguara said she was “always a pleasure to know”.
“You will be missed by many with your bubbly personality and contagious smile,” he wrote on Facebook.
“It is just heartbreaking,” her agent Lisa Mann said. “Beautiful Jess was loved and treasured by her family, friends and colleagues and our sympathies are with everyone today.”