Can you get a restricted licence after losing your licence for speeding?

Speeding is one of the most common reasons people lose their licence in Tasmania. Whether you were caught doing 20 over in a school zone or accumulated enough demerit points to trigger a suspension, the loss of your licence can have serious consequences for your work, family, and daily life.

The good news is that speeding disqualifications follow a simpler eligibility path for restricted licences than drink or drug driving. Speeding is a non-RSA offence, which means the additional bars in the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970 do not apply. There is no BAC threshold to worry about, no prescribed vehicle exclusion, and no automatic bar for provisional licence holders.

That said, you still need to meet the general criteria in section 18 of the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999, and the court must be satisfied that your situation warrants a restricted licence. This page explains how speeding disqualifications work in the restricted licence context.

The distinction between RSA and non-RSA offences is fundamental to restricted licence eligibility in Tasmania. RSA offences are those dealt with under the Road Safety (Alcohol and Drugs) Act 1970 — drink driving, drug driving, DUI, and refusal to provide a sample. These carry a layer of additional restrictions set out in section 19 of that Act, including BAC thresholds, prescribed vehicle exclusions, authorisation requirements, and specific bars for provisional and learner licence holders.

Speeding is not an RSA offence. It is dealt with under the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999, which means section 19 of the RSA Act simply does not apply. The eligibility assessment for a speeding disqualification is governed solely by section 18 of the VTA — a shorter and less restrictive set of criteria.

In practical terms, this means several of the exclusions that catch people in drink driving cases are irrelevant to speeding:

• There is no BAC threshold to exceed
• Provisional licence holders are not automatically excluded
• There is no prescribed vehicle bar
• There is no authorisation requirement specific to the offence type
• There is no 3-year prior disqualification rule under the RSA Act

This does not mean a restricted licence is guaranteed — the court still has a discretion to exercise — but the path to eligibility is materially simpler.

Speeding can result in loss of licence through two quite different mechanisms, and the distinction matters for restricted licence purposes:

• Court disqualification: If you are charged with a speeding offence and sentenced by a magistrate — typically for excessive speed, such as 45 km/h or more over the limit — the court may impose a period of disqualification as part of the sentence. This is a direct court-imposed disqualification, and a restricted licence application can be made under section 18 of the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999.
• Administrative suspension: If you accumulate enough demerit points, your licence can be suspended administratively by the Registrar of Motor Vehicles. Many speeding offences are dealt with by way of traffic infringement notice (a fine and demerit points) rather than a court charge. When the accumulated points hit the threshold, the suspension follows automatically.

Both types of disqualification can lead to a restricted licence application. However, if your licence was suspended through demerit point accumulation, there are additional considerations around the "good order and behaviour" (POGB) provisions. If you opted for a POGB undertaking and then breached it, the eligibility path depends on how the breach occurred. See our demerit points page for a detailed explanation of how POGB works.

Section 18(1) of the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999 provides that a person may apply for a restricted licence if they hold or held "an Australian driver licence (other than a learner licence)." This means:

• Full licence holders — eligible to apply.
• Provisional licence holders — eligible to apply. Unlike drink driving, there is no RSA Act exclusion for provisional licence holders in speeding cases. The only statutory bar based on licence type in section 18(1) is for learner licences.
• Learner licence holders — excluded. Section 18(1) explicitly excludes learner licences from the restricted licence regime.

This is a significant difference from drink driving cases, where section 19(1A)(e) of the RSA Act bars both provisional and learner licence holders. For speeding, only learner permit holders are excluded by the legislation. See our provisional and learner licence page for more detail on how licence type affects eligibility across different offence types.

If you were driving while disqualified at the time you committed the speeding offence, the legal position becomes more complicated. Strictly speaking, the legislation does not contain a specific bar in section 18 that prevents you from applying in this situation — unlike the RSA Act, which has its own disqualification-related exclusion in section 19(1A)(a).

However, the court must be satisfied under section 18(5)(c) that making the order would not be contrary to the public interest. The fact that you were already disqualified when caught will weigh heavily against you in that assessment. A magistrate is unlikely to look favourably on an application for a restricted licence from someone who has already demonstrated a willingness to drive in breach of a court order or administrative suspension.

This is an amber-zone situation. You are not automatically excluded by the legislation, but the practical likelihood of success is significantly reduced. If this applies to your situation, you should speak with a lawyer before making an application. They can assess whether the circumstances are strong enough to overcome the public interest hurdle.

Not every disqualification that starts with speed is a straightforward speeding case. If the offending was severe enough, the charge may have been laid as a more serious offence — for example:

• Dangerous driving — driving at a speed or in a manner dangerous to the public, under section 32 of the Traffic Act 1925.
• Reckless driving — driving recklessly, which may overlap with extreme speeding, under section 32A of the Traffic Act 1925.

These are still non-RSA offences, so the section 19 bars do not apply. However, the seriousness of the offence is directly relevant to the court's public interest assessment under section 18(5)(c). A disqualification for dangerous driving carries different weight in a magistrate's mind than a disqualification for exceeding the speed limit by 20 km/h.

If your disqualification involved dangerous or reckless driving rather than a simple speeding offence, see our dangerous driving page for more detail on how the court is likely to approach your application.

Even though the eligibility path is simpler for speeding than for RSA offences, the core requirement of the restricted licence application remains the same: you must prove severe and unusual hardship under section 18(5) of the Vehicle and Traffic Act 1999.

The court must be satisfied of three things:

• Severe and unusual hardship: The disqualification is imposing, or will impose, severe and unusual hardship on you or a person who is dependent on you. This is a higher bar than ordinary inconvenience — everyone who loses their licence finds it inconvenient. The hardship must be genuinely severe and out of the ordinary.
• Mitigation: A restricted licence would help to mitigate or alleviate that hardship. The conditions you propose must be directly linked to the hardship you are experiencing.
• Public interest: Granting the restricted licence would not be contrary to the public interest. Your driving history, the nature of the offence, and the risk you pose to other road users are all relevant here.

Common hardship grounds include the need to drive for employment (especially if you live in a rural area without public transport), medical treatment, and caring responsibilities. The stronger and more specific your evidence, the better your prospects. See our hardship page for a detailed discussion of what the court looks for.