A lot of our laws are enacted for good reasons - but in many cases they have unintended outcomes.
The state government blocked the ability to hold a driver's license or register a motor vehicle as a means of forcing people to pay overdue traffic fines.
A magistrate recently referred to a case where a young man had accrued fines totally $ 16,000 - for not wearing a safety helmet while riding a bicycle.
This was probably a matter of a rebellious teenager who eventually achieved wisdom - but found he then had a debt that would be impossible to repay. When it comes to money owed to a government the recovery process is absolutely ruthless. There is no statute of limitations. The government insists on recovering every last cent - irrespective of the outcome in emotional terms - or in the misery it might cause other innocent people.
Without a drivers license or a legally registered car many a young person feels aggrieved - and with rebellion refuelled - drives unlicensed and unregistered.
Unfortunately insurance against damage caused to a person or property only applies to a legally registered motor vehicle driven by a legally licensed driver.
We now have all the ingredients for disaster. At best, an innocent third party suffers financial loss because of an accident, and at worst an innocent victim suffers a lifetime of poverty and pain because of an unrecompenced tragic injury.
It seems that some form of mercy would be in the common good. Perhaps discretion given to magistrates to vary the amount of fines owing in circumstances where youthful indiscretion threatens to destroy a young life.
The present interpretation of the law simply simply spreads the misery to a wider circle !
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