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New road laws proposed in NSW: the offences that could land drivers in jail
Legislation targets street racing and sharing images of crash victims as NSW Government seeks to broaden dangerous driving offences.
Anyone who intentionally records and disseminates images of road crash victims could go to jail for up to two years, under proposed legislation currently under review in NSW parliament.
Other new driving offences that would be brought into NSW law include ‘dangerous driving causing actual bodily harm’ and ‘failing to stop and assist after a crash causing actual bodily harm’, both punishable by up to three years imprisonment.
The above penalties can increase to five years in prison if there are aggravating circumstances and street racing would be deemed an aggravating circumstance under the new laws.
At the time of writing the laws have passed the legislative assembly and are now under review by the legislative council.
Much of the proposed legislation is based on six recommendations from a 2025 NSW Law Reform Commission report into serious road crime.
The report, prompted in 2022 by then attorney general Mark Speakman, was based on extensive consultation with law enforcement, government agencies, legal stakeholders and road trauma advocates.
Interestingly, however, the report did not recommend a separate law targeting recording and distributing imagery of crash victims, saying there was no substantial evidence of “‘posting and boasting’ conduct in the context of serious road crimes”.
The Minns government opted to include the law anyway, with attorney general Michael Daley saying, “The reforms also target bystanders who, rather than rushing to help at the scene of a crash, record victims who lie seriously injured, dying or dead and then share it on social media.”
The reforms include updates to the Crimes Act 1900, among them modernising the existing offence of ‘wanton and furious driving’ to ‘bodily harm caused by driving involving misconduct or wilful neglect’.
Other new driving offences that would be brought into NSW law include ‘dangerous driving causing actual bodily harm’ and ‘failing to stop and assist after a crash causing actual bodily harm’, both punishable by up to three years imprisonment.
The above penalties can increase to five years in prison if there are aggravating circumstances and street racing would be deemed an aggravating circumstance under the new laws.
At the time of writing the laws have passed the legislative assembly and are now under review by the legislative council.
Much of the proposed legislation is based on six recommendations from a 2025 NSW Law Reform Commission report into serious road crime.
The report, prompted in 2022 by then attorney general Mark Speakman, was based on extensive consultation with law enforcement, government agencies, legal stakeholders and road trauma advocates.
Interestingly, however, the report did not recommend a separate law targeting recording and distributing imagery of crash victims, saying there was no substantial evidence of “‘posting and boasting’ conduct in the context of serious road crimes”.
The Minns government opted to include the law anyway, with attorney general Michael Daley saying, “The reforms also target bystanders who, rather than rushing to help at the scene of a crash, record victims who lie seriously injured, dying or dead and then share it on social media.”
The reforms include updates to the Crimes Act 1900, among them modernising the existing offence of ‘wanton and furious driving’ to ‘bodily harm caused by driving involving misconduct or wilful neglect’.
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