Issues Paper No. 12 invites contributions about the criminal liability of drivers who fall asleep causing motor vehicle crashes resulting in death or other serious injury. This Issues Paper examines the application of the principles articulated in Jiminez to the framework currently in place in Tasmania. An examination of the legal consequences of falling asleep at the wheel highlights the tension between two competing views. On one hand, there is a reluctance to apportion criminal liability to acts over which a person has no conscious control. On the other hand, the community is becoming increasingly aware of the dangers posed by drivers affected by tiredness or some other medical condition which may cause a person to fall asleep. The community has an interest in seeing that drivers are deterred from driving in circumstances where they pose a danger to themselves and other road-users, and are punished if they do so and cause harm or death to others.


Any group or person is invited to respond to this issues paper. Following consideration of all responses it is intended that a final report will be published, containing recommendations.

The Institute invites responses to the Issues Paper by 17 November 2007.

Please click here for a copy of the media release.