A interesting issue from Victoria relating to the SES but will have application for all emergency services.
I wonder if you could help with a question I have as I have a daughter who has recently joined the SES.
The Victorian State Emergency Service does not allow ‘p’ platers to drive vehicles under emergency status, i.e. under lights and sirens.
My question is, does a probationary driver , driving a State Emergency Vehicle have to display ‘p’ plates,
Our regional manager has stated that a p’ plater does not have to display p plates when driving an emergency vehicle under normal conditions.
They state that a police officer threatened to fine a driver for displaying his ‘p’ plates on an emergency vehicle.
I have asked a Highway Patrol Officer and he tells me that probationary drivers must always display ‘p’ plates regardless of the vehicle they are driving.
What’s interesting is the conflicting advice. One might expect the police to be right but it appears that is not the case. The relevant rules are not the Road Safety Road Rules 2009 (Vic) as those rules do not deal with licensing, in Victoria the relevant rules are the Road Safety (Drivers) Regulations 2009 (Vic) but the answer is in fact clear and set out in regulation 55.
Regulation 55(1) says “A person who holds a probationary driver licence … must not drive a motor vehicle … on a highway unless…” they are displaying a “P” plate to the front and rear of the vehicle (except that a motorcycle only needs a rear facing “P” plate). The regulation goes on to say:
(3) Subregulation (1) does not apply to a person who is—
(a) a member of the police force who, in the course of duty, is driving a motor vehicle; or
(b) a member of the Country Fire Authority who is driving a motor vehicle in the course of fire fighting operations; or
(c) driving an ambulance service or a Victoria State Emergency Service vehicle in the course of duty.
So the answer is clear, a person driving an SES vehicle as part of their duties does not need to display a “P” plate. The advice from the SES regional manager is correct; the advice from the Highway Patrol Officer is wrong.
Can you be fined for displaying a “P” plate? That is not so clear; regulation 55(2) says “A person who does not hold a probationary driver licence … must not drive a motor vehicle on a highway if there is displayed facing out from the front or rear of the vehicle a plate that is, or that resembles, a P plate”. The maximum penalty is 3 penalty units. (A penalty unit is $147.61 (http://www.ocpc.vic.gov.au/CA2572B3001B894B/pages/faqs-penalty-and-fee-units) so the maximum penalty is a fine of $442.83).
BUT the regulation does not say that it is an offence to display a “P” plate when not required to do so by subsection (1); rather it says it is an offence to display a “P” plate if the driver does not hold a probationary licence. If the driver does hold a probationary licence, and they are driving an SES vehicle or ambulance, or they are a member of the CFA driving a vehicle in the course of firefighting, then they are not required to display a “P” plate but the regulations do not say they commit an offence if they do. So ‘the police officer [who] threatened to fine a driver for displaying his ‘p’ plates on an emergency vehicle’ was also wrong.
There is another restriction on P1 drivers, that is a P1 driver must not drive a vehicle with more than one ‘peer passenger’ (Regulation 61(1)). A ‘peer passenger’ is a person aged more than 16 and less than 22 (Regulation 61(4)). One can imagine that an SES vehicle may have more than one person who meets that criteria. Again, however the rule does not apply to a member of the police force or a person driving an emergency vehicle in the course of his or her duties (Regulation 61(2)). That is a different test; regulation 55(3) referred to a person driving an ambulance or SES vehicle in the course of their duties whereas regulation 61(2) refers to an ’emergency vehicle’. The definition of ’emergency vehicle’ is the same as the definition in the Road Safety Road Rules 2009 (Vic) (see Road Safety (Drivers) Regulations 2009 (Vic) reg 61(4) and Road Safety Road Rules 2009 (Vic) rule 4 and Dictionary). An ’emergency vehicle’ includes any vehicle that is under the control of the SES (or other emergency services). Accordingly this exception also applies to the driver of a Victoria SES vehicle. (That’s quite different to the definition in say New South Wales that defines an emergency vehicle as a vehicle being operated by an emergency worker when responding to an emergency. If that definition applied in Victoria then a P plate driver could not have more than one young passenger on routine tasks but could in an emergency).
In summary, in Victoria, the holder of a provisional drivers licence does not need to display “P” plates and may carry more than one ‘peer passenger’ when driving an SES vehicle in the course of their SES duties.
Australian Emergency Law 
Interesting, is there an equivalent to “Road Safety (Drivers) Regulations 2009” for other states (specifically SA I’m interested in) as this appears to be specific to Vic? (aren’t we supposed to have consistent road laws across the whole country now?)
And for the CFA (or CFS if this is the same in SA) it says “in the course of fire fighting operations” specifically, so not for training or admin purposes then? yet for the SES and ambos it is “in the course of duty” which would include those purposes would it not?
It’s my experience that the decision to actually allow P Platers to drive an SES vehicle is quite varied, unit by unit. For many, it’s an outright no- it’s just cleaner and clearer in my eyes.
Interesting question. Legality to one side, any ambulance service I have worked for clearly states that any license other than a full license, ie E P or other restriction, prevents priorty one driving. I was advised this was tied into insurance as well.
Ambulance priority one status is two weeks worth. Wet dry, high speed skid braking, hard and soft roads etc.
We must ask ourselves. ..do we really want an inexperienced driver driving under these conditions?
As for police driving without P plates, when I was a lad, we still couldn’t drive the under lights and sirens anyway.
If SES is allowing this in Vic, may I suggest, they need to fall in with what the other states do. Other road users should have the benefit of an experienced driver.
I am sure I am not the only ambo who has attended a fire truck roll over.
The law isnt the only question here 🙂
When I was in the ambulance service, priority one driving was when your training officer decided to let you drive under those conditions. There was no training at all!
It’s true that the law is not the only question and the law is permissive, in Victoria it allows people to drive an SES vehicle, ambulance, CFA vehicle etc without displaying “P” plates but that is all it does. It doesn’t give them a right to drive, and it’s up to the service to decide who is competent to drive their vehicles and under what conditions. So the law isn’t the only question; but it’s the question I try to answer.
Taking those issues in reverse order; yes the Victorian regulation does refer to a CFA member engaged in fire fighting but it does not have a similar restriction when driving an ambulance or SES vehicle so you’re right if a CFA member is driving a fire fighting vehicle for admin purposes they should have their “P” plate but that does not apply to the SES.
Now let’s look at South Australia. The relevant provisions are in the Motor Vehicles Regulation 2010 (SA) reg 51 which imposes the obligation to display a “P” plate. A police officer or police cadet does not need to display a “P” plate (reg 52). I can find no other exemption so it appears that in South Australia the holder of a provisional licence must display a “P” plate when driving an SES or other emergency vehicle.
As for national rules, there are national road rules that relate to driving, and there is a national heavy vehicle licensing scheme (see https://www.nhvr.gov.au/) but even there the scheme is administered by each state and territory so there can be room for movement. There is not yet a national licensing scheme other than the states and territories recognise licences issued in the other jurisdictions.
Whilst it’s off point, having a daughter who recently obtained her “P”’s in the Australian Capital Territory I was surprised at how different the scheme is from that in New South Wales. In NSW the holder of P1 or P2 licence has restrictions on the maximum speed at which they can drive (Road Rules 2008 (NSW) reg 24-1). The limits apply to a person “who is the holder of a provisional P1 licence” (maximum is 90km/h) or P2 licence (maximum 100km/h). There is no such restriction on an ACT Provisional licence scheme and the ACT does not have a P1/P2 scheme, so the holder of an ACT Provisional licence does not hold either a P1 or P2 licence. Each state gives full credit to the licences issued in other jurisdictions (Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW) s 39). The result is that an ACT “P” plate driver in NSW can drive at the speed limit (which may be up to 110 km/h but a NSW provisional licence holder will be restricted to a maximum of 90 or 100km/h. This must be a headache for NSW police in Queanbeyan and Goulburn!
In NSW the driver of a police vehicle with a P1 licence need not display a red and white “P” plate (Road Transport (Driver Licensing) Regulation 2008 (NSW) reg 22(2)); and the driver of a police or emergency vehicle with a P2 licence need not display a green and white “P” plate (reg 28(2)).
This comment came via LinkedIN:
Hi Michael,
I read your post on LinkedIn in regards to Probationary Licence Holders and driving emergency vehicles.
Only last night did VICSES issue a SOP in regards to this matter.
I have attached the comments below from our SOP for you to read, I won’t comment on LinkedIn that I have sent this to you as a reference.
Background
State Operations have identified as a result of a collision investigation involving a “P” plater, that clarification is required as to when “P” plates need to be displayed.
Displaying P Plates
Road Safety (Drivers Regulations) 2009 s55, Probationary driver must display P plates, subregulation 3 states that displaying P plates does not apply to a person who is driving a Victoria State Emergency Service vehicle in the course of duty.
The Chief Officer Operations has determined “course of duty” is defined as use of SES vehicle for all activities undertaken by SES members. As per SOP051 – Emergency Vehicle Status, probationary members are not endorsed to drive under EVS conditions.
Transition
This Operations Update is effective from the date of publication.
This comment also came via LinkedIN:
“Michael, this is a question I’ve been asked about, and done research on from within VICSES, including for myself as a probationary driver. Indeed, legislation states that when driving emergency vehicles, P Plates are not required, and the RM is correct in that sense. That said, within VICSES Policy: “5.01 General rules covering the use of VICSES vehicles policy”, section 7.8 directly states “Probationary licence holders must display their “P” plates at all times when driving VICSES vehicles”. Of course, this would have implications within VICSES. But does it change the legal nature of the issue, as a directive of the service?”
Replying to the above two comments, as discussed in my original post, the rule saying that the driver of an SES, or other emergency vehicle, does not need to display “P” plates is permissive, that is it says you don’t have to, it doesn’t say you can’t. In those circumstances the SES can say that they require provisional licence holders to display their “P” plates.
It is interesting that Vic SES issued an SOP on this issue on the same day that I wrote this post. I’m sure they’re not related as it would have taken the SES longer than that to consider its position; but it shows this has become an issue for SES volunteers and the SES, presumably because of the collision referred to above. It did make me think that perhaps reg 55(3) is a recent amendment to the law, perhaps something the SES had pushed for after this accident? But that’s not the case, having looked at the history of the regulation I can see that regulation 55(3) has been there, with the same wording, since this regulation came into force on 11 September 2009.
Referring to the VICSES which is what the question was about anyway…
1) Under Victoria SES policies and procedures a member may not drive under EVS (Emergency Vehicle Status) without first having completed their EVS briefing course, and being endorsed to drive under EVS by both their local controller as well as their regional manager.
2) Only VICSES members who have a full license may attend the EVS briefing as a full license is a prerequisite, additionally conditions such as interlock systems would by law prevent a member from driving an SES vehicle at any time as SES vehicles are not fitted with alcohol interlocks.
3) This matter was raised by the SES leadership and is being investigated but the currently held position by the Director of Operations is that a member is considered to be operating an SES vehicle in the course of duty whenever they use the vehicle including for fuel runs, cleaning, or transport to non emergency events such as training and that under this interpretation SES members at no time would be required to display P plates on marked SES vehicles.
Hi there, I stumbled across this article while trying to find out about the rules relating to P plate drivers driving emergency vehicles in NSW. I am a Rural Fire Service volunteer and I’m currently on my green Ps, and also practicing to get my MR licence so I can drive the trucks at my brigade. I saw in one of your comments Michael that you are not required to display P plates in the course of your duties, but what about being able to respond under lights and sirens and not have the road rules apply to you etc? I had a look at Road Rules 2008
under the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999 and there is nothing in there about it. I would appreciate it if anyone can offer some insight.
cheers.
Joel
The law says nothing about that and whether or not you have to have P Plates is irrelevant to the application of rule 306. The question of whether or not a P plate driver is allowed to drive under emergency conditions is a matter for the service for which they work or volunteer. If the RFS through their processes are happy for you to drive under emergency conditions, then the fact that you have a P licence is irrelevant; but I can understand that the RFS or other services may decide that anyone with a P licence can’t drive under those conditions (and see the comment by Chris regarding Victoria SES’ policy on this issue). So it’s true, under the Road Transport (Safety and Traffic Management) Act 1999 there is nothing in there about it. According to the law you can drive an emergency vehicle under emergency conditions with a P licence and without displaying P Plates but that is only if that is ‘in the course of your duties’ and the RFS can say that is not part of your duties. It’s up to the RFS.