Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am pleased to appear before the committee today to review Bill 14, An Act to Amend the Motor Vehicles Act. The NWT Motor Vehicles Act must be updated regularly. This ensures that new initiatives and best practices that improve safety and meet the needs of the travelling public are formalized in legislation.

Bill 14 consists of 12 amendments. The amendments are important to the regulation of vehicles and drivers on the NWT highway system. This will help us to better respond to the increasing pace of change related to motor vehicles.

Some of the key highlights of the amendments are:

• Expanding the list of individuals that have

access to accident reports. This will include anyone directly involved in an accident, not just the driver, vehicle owner, insurance company or agent. The expanded list would also include passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, and property owners.

• Requiring drivers to reduce their speed when approaching roadside emergency vehicles. This will protect emergency and enforcement personnel when performing their duties.

• Establishing an offence for driving a motor

vehicle on a highway while the lights are obstructed by snow, ice, dirt or mud. The lack of visibility is a safety issue. As with a similar amendment made to the act for windows and licence plates, we don’t anticipate any significant public concerns. We expect police will exercise discretion as to whether to issue a ticket to a driver depending on the circumstances.

• Increasing the grace period from one to two years during which a person can renew an expired driver’s licence without retesting. This will save time and expense for the clients and also for the department.

• Regulating the inspections of emerging vehicle types. This will ensure that new classes of vehicles are safe to operate on NWT highways. Examples include right-hand drive, low speed, and electric vehicles.

Other amendments include:

• Establishing the specific authority for driver’s licence demerit point regulations.

• Providing nurse practitioners and registered

nurses with the same duties and liability protection that currently exists for physicians under the MVA.

• Expanding the liability for equipment offences on commercial vehicles to the owner as well as the driver.

• Providing explicit authority for the registrar to collect personal information for purposes related to the Motor Vehicles Act.

• Expanding the list of agencies that may

request copies of registrar’s records to include provincial and territorial Crown prosecutors.

• Authorizing the registrar to issue temporary

permits for unusual vehicles and special events.

• It also includes minor changes to language and word usage to make the act consistent with other territorial legislation.

In closing, I would like to emphasize the need to update the Motor Vehicles Act on a regular basis. It allows us to operate more efficiently and, most importantly, it provides us with a better means to ensure the safety of the travelling public.