Victoria trials new digital license – and other new news!

DIGITAL LICENSES:

Victoria’s six-month trial of the new digital licences will begin in Ballarat from July 2023, with a statewide roll-out expected in 2024. The new system will allow Victorian motorists to carry a digital driver licence on their phones, within the Service Victoria app or the forthcoming VicRoads app.

DEVICES USE:

New road rules are being introduced regulating the use of a range of portable, mountable, wearable and inbuilt devices while driving a vehicle or riding a motorbike. The rules expand and clarify a number of rules already in place for mobile phones, and take effect on 31 March 2023.

The rules reflect the significant increase of in-vehicle technologies and other technologies capable of distracting a driver and are designed to help keep people safe on our roads. The rules are expanded from mobile phones and visual display units to cover:

• Portable devices (unmounted mobile phones, tablets);
• Wearable devices (smartwatches, wearable heads-up display);
• Inbuilt devices (Info, navigation, and entertainment systems, heads-up display that is an inbuilt part of the vehicle);
• Mounted devices (Heads-up display, tablet, mobile phone, media player etc if securely mounted in or on a vehicle)
• Motorbike helmet devices