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@DaveB said:
Some of the legal issues associated with motor accidents occuring on private property were brought out on the last episode of “Four Corners” entitled “While they were sleeping”. In NSW at least, it seems that police powers to prosecute drivers on private land are limited. This program is currently still available on i-view and I found it to be well worth watching.Whilst speed limit signs are virtually impossible to enforce on strata property, at least they give a reminder to owners and visitors what is reasonably expected. If you have a persistent offender it is possible to estimate their average speeds over a known distance by using a stopwatch.
This is material i got from a very good strata lawyer:
Internal roads
Transport legislation is detailed and very complicated.
Here is a list of relevant legislation (which is probably far from exhaustive):
Road Transport (General) Act 2005
Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Act 1998
Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999
Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Act 1997
Motor Vehicles Taxation Act 1988
Motor Accidents Compensation Act 1999
Roads Act 1993
Summary Offences Act 1988
Many sections of these acts apply to an area that is “an area that is open to or used by the public and is developed for, or has as one of its main uses, the driving or riding of motor vehicles”
This phrase was considered by the Court of Appeal in Ryan v Nominal Defendant (2005) 62 NSWLR 192 (in that case in connection with motor accidents compensation legislation).
Santow JA, with whom McColl JA agreed (forming the majority) held that “a dirt track, which, though on private property, effectively formed an extension of [the public road] as it was separated from the street only by a lockable metal gate” was “open to or used by the public”.
This was despite the use of the road by the public being a trespass. Santow JA said (at [137]):
“it is not irrelevant that use may be technically a trespass, I would in the circumstances of this case not be deterred from the conclusion that the track was “used by the public” by its trespassory character. The weight of that factor is greatly diminished by what I refer to as “the variety and frequency of that usage, and the ineffectiveness of the measures to prevent it”. That ineffectiveness amounts to something close to tolerance … “
The case is reported at 62 NSWLR 192 and the unreported can be found at:
https://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/scjudgments/2005nswca.nsf/2005nswca.nsf/We…
Of course that is just the starting point (and then only in respect of certain legislation, not all of it … )