Road Safety Act 1986

An inspector may inspect a vehicle to which this Division applies for compliance purposes.

Without limiting subsection (1), in conducting an inspection of the vehicle, the inspector may—

enter the vehicle;

weigh the vehicle or any part of the vehicle or its equipment or load;

otherwise measure, or test, or take photographs of, the vehicle or any part of the vehicle or its equipment or load (other than a passenger);

check the existence or details of, or take photographs of, placards or other information required by a relevant law or scheme to be displayed in or on the vehicle, including placards or other information relating to its specifications, capabilities or legal entitlements;

copy—

any documents located in or on the vehicle that are required to be carried in or on the vehicle by a relevant law or scheme;

any documents relating to the vehicle, or the use of the vehicle, that are accessible electronically from equipment located in or on the vehicle;

examine any goods found in or on the vehicle that the inspector believes, on reasonable grounds, provide, or may on further examination provide, evidence of a contravention of a relevant law or scheme.

This section does not authorise the use of force, but the inspector may do any or all of the following—

open unlocked doors, panels, objects or other things, or open unlocked places;

move, but not take away, anything that is not locked up or sealed.

In the case of a vehicle to which this Division applies as a result of section 113(e), the inspector may, for the purpose of inspecting the vehicle, enter the place that the vehicle is in or on without the consent of the owner or occupier of the place.

A photograph taken under subsection (2)(c) of a vehicle, or of any part of a vehicle or its equipment or load, is not inadmissible as evidence by reason only of the fact that it includes the likeness of one or more of the vehicle's passengers if the capturing of that likeness does not appear to have been the main reason for the taking of the photograph.