Under s 58 of the Road Traffic Act 1974 (WA), a police officer must communicate to a person that they are required to answer questions; a mere request for information is insufficient to ground a conviction for failure to provide information. The reasonable cause element in s 55 is not an exception or proviso that reverses the burden of proof; the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant had no reasonable cause for believing the damage did not exceed $1,000. The element of reasonable cause must be assessed at the time the obligation to report arose, not at a later date when additional information was received.
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