TAC fines Stars following Captain's speeding conviction

05 Feb 2013

MEDIA RELEASE: 5 February 2013

The Transport Accident Commission has recently met with the Melbourne Stars in light of the speeding conviction of Captain Shane Warne.

The TAC is extremely disappointed in Mr Warne’s speeding conviction.

Excessive and inappropriate speed is a leading cause of death on Victorian roads each year. Young men are over-represented in these statistics. Through the sponsorship of the Melbourne Stars, the TAC was able to reach out to help this particular demographic understand the risks they face when they speed.

The TAC was not aware of Mr Warne’s speeding offence at the time of the launch of the Homesafely campaign. If we had known about the incident, we would not have had Mr Warne involved in the media launch.

The TAC believes that Mr Warne was not an appropriate road safety spokesperson at the launch.

We would like to reiterate that Mr Warne did not receive any payment for this one-off appearance. The TAC's partnership was with the Melbourne Stars, not Mr Warne.

A standard clause of the TAC’s partnership contracts is that those involved with partner organisations, being staff or players, will not bring the TAC into disrepute.

The TAC has enacted this clause and fined the Melbourne Stars $10,000 for their Captain’s behaviour.

The partnership for the 2012/13 season has now ended, in timing with the close of the season.