The [_Road Safety Act 1986_](https://anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com/Link/Document/FullText?refType=U5&docFamilyGuid=Ie1fc1719045011e99495db3043f758b0&pubNum=1100190&originationContext=document&transitionType=DocumentItem&docVersion=Law+in+Force&ppcid=bfc6f73a182844598a32b6c1395da38e&contextData=\(sc.DocLink\)) does not define the term “exceptional circumstances”. What is exceptional must be determined on the facts of the particular case. In the context of the [_Magistrates' Court Act 1989_](https://anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com/Link/Document/FullText?refType=U5&docFamilyGuid=I8a191812035311e99495db3043f758b0&pubNum=1100190&originationContext=document&transitionType=DocumentItem&docVersion=Law+in+Force&ppcid=bfc6f73a182844598a32b6c1395da38e&contextData=\(sc.DocLink\)) and whether there were exceptional circumstances to justify commencing a committal hearing out of time it was observed:[26](https://anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com/Link/Document/FullText?findType=L&pubNum=0234221&sourceSerial=%5bRSA.PT6B.20%5d&originatingDoc=I2ec7cd77cf3311eb9d69ea94171cfa6e&refType=PY&originationContext=document&transitionType=DocumentItem&ppcid=3033fa7302624548baeba216d2a4d4d0&contextData=\(sc.Keycite\)&comp=wlau#co_footnote_26) > The use of the phrase “exceptional circumstances” is not unknown in the legal lexicon. [Section 13](https://anzlaw.thomsonreuters.com/Link/Document/FullText?refType=U7&docFamilyGuid=I94700929035311e99495db3043f758b0&pubNum=1100190&originationContext=document&transitionType=DocumentItem&docVersion=Law+in+Force&ppcid=bfc6f73a182844598a32b6c1395da38e&contextData=\(sc.DocLink\)) of the _Bail Act_ is a well-known example. > > Exceptional is defined, contextually, in the _Oxford English Dictionary_ (2nd Edition Volume V), the greatest dictionary, as meaning “unusual, special, out of the ordinary course”. This does not mean any variation from the norm. > > The facts must be examined in the light of the Act, the legislative intention, the interests of the prosecuting authority, the defendant and the victims. It may be that the circumstances amounting to exceptional must be circumstances that rarely occur and perhaps be outside reasonable anticipation or expectation.