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On 13 October 2026, the Minns’ Labor Government introduced reforms in Parliament looking to make amendments to the Crimes Act 1900. The Crimes Amendment (Serious Road Crimes) Bill 2026 (“the Bill”), amongst other changes, is directed at dangerous drivers, drivers involved in “hit and run” accidents and bystanders intentionally recording or disseminating images of a road crash victim, while breaching the gap left by the existing sections of the Act that deal with road offences. The proposed law changes seek to implement recommendations from the NSW Law Reform Commission “Serious Road Crime” Report from February 2025 (“the Report”).

The Bill inserts a new division being Division 6AA – Serious Road Crimes, which adds and provides a clear framework for these new offences.

The first headline change is the introduction of a new offence being “dangerous driving occasioning actual bodily harm”. As recommended by the Report, the reform seeks to amend s52A of the Crimes Act 1900, with the elements of the offence being in line with the offences of dangerous driving occasioning death and dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm. However, unlike the recommendation from the Report, which proposed a 2 year imprisonment term for the offence and 4 years with aggravating circumstances, the Bill makes the offence punishable with up to 3 years imprisonment or 5 years if it includes aggravating circumstances. As it currently stands, injuries that meet the standard definition of actual bodily harm as it related to driving offences were dealt with under s53 covering “wanton or furious driving”. The additional offence will come under section 54BG of the Amended Act.

The Bill also inserts the new offence of “failing to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing death, grievous bodily harm or actual bodily harm”. This new offence (which now includes actual bodily harm) was at the forefront of Attorney General Michael Daley’s mind during the bill’s presentation to the NSW Parliament on 13 October, with the Attorney General highlighting the death of 14 year old, Bryson Dimovski, in 2023 where the driver reportedly failed to assist or call triple zero following the incident. The punishment proposed relating to this new offence depends on the severity of the victims’ injuries, with the maximum penalty ranging between 3 – 10 years. This offence comes under section 54BP of the Amended Act.

The Bill adds a new section 54BC being the “circumstances of aggravation” and outlines the additional aggravating factor of street racing. Street racing remains a significant issue within NSW, with approximately 550 vehicle plates being removed annually for speeding, burnouts and street racing, in addition to the 40 vehicles confiscated each year. The proposed change follows Queensland who already include this act as an aggravating offence in their Criminal Code Act 1899 and seeks to fill a gap in the law in circumstances where the street racing offence is unable to reach the high threshold of manslaughter or grievous bodily harm. This aggravating factor comes in under section 54BC (d).

The final headline inclusion in these proposed amendments is the inclusion of a criminal offence relating to the intentional recording and dissemination of images of a road crash victim where they know or ought to know the victim is seriously injured, dying or deceased. The proposed punishment is up to two years imprisonment. In his address the Attorney General stated the following:

“This conduct compounds families’ grief by turning a private and deeply traumatic event into public content. In some instances, we have heard that families are first made aware of the serious harm to, or loss of, a loved one through social media posts as a result of this conduct — conduct which we all find unbelievable”

The offence will come under the new section 54BQ of the Amended Act.

Please note that this article only seeks to highlight the headline additions in the proposed Division 6AA as it seeks to amend the existing sections under the Crimes Act 1900 to provide clarity regarding “serious road crimes”. We encourage our readers to review the Bill in its entirety for further detail of the proposed changes.

Here at Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers, although we don’t act for or against the perpetrators of these dangerous driving offences, we often assist the victims and their families with obtaining compensation following these tragic incidents. While this reform has yet to pass Parliament, if passed these changes provide a suitable deterrent to dangerous drivers and help reduce the number of fatal accidents on NSW roads.

If you or a family member has been injured as a result of dangerous driving, our lawyers at Carroll & O’Dea may be able to assist you throughout this difficult process.

Michael Greene is an Associate in Tim Concannon’s team and works closely with Tim in relation to a multitude of personal injury matters including CTP damages claims, mental harm damages and claims under the Compensation to Relatives Act.

Disclosure and important note: This article is based on our own legal research and thinking. Some of its content has been drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence. The authors have checked and approved this article, including the AI generated content, for publication.

This article was published on 2 November by Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers and is based on the relevant state of the law (legislation, regulations and case law) at that date for the jurisdiction in which it is published. Please note this article does not constitute legal advice. If you ever need legal advice or want to discuss a legal problem, please contact us to see if we can help. You can reach us on 1800 059 278 or via the Contact us page on our website. (www.codea.com.au). If you or a loved one has been injured, use our Personal injury Claim Check now.