Annual increase in speeding fines and traffic infringements

[Skids]

The last paragraph of that article LH... you really do get a pineapple in Vic don't you! And what's with fines like; $529, $721, $817 & $962? Really... why the odd numbers?

We also have a fine/demerits for 1st offence drink driving if under 0.08.

Something I just learnt, we also have a fine/demerit system for 1st offence for -Driving with Specified Drugs in Oral Fluid (see link)

https://www.wa.gov.au/organisation/road-safety-commission/drink-and-drug-driving

I got done about 7 years ago, blew 0.65 on the roadside, was then charged for 0.061 at the station. I incurred a $600 fine and lost 6 points (from memory).
Crazy really. I got caught in 1984, the second day I had my license, I had just turned 17. I blew over 0.08 on the roadside, they took me to the station and no shit, I blew 0.079 on the machine. They drove me back to my car, said drive carefully and off I went.

An unfair system

The above is an analysis of the law as it is at the moment. Debate may rage about whether police guidelines, or the law, should give greater allowances to motorists. There is nothing wrong with having speed limits on Victoria's roads, and nothing wrong with enforcing those limits. A line needs to drawn somewhere. The real issue is with penalties. Speeding fines can be easily incurred from a moments lack of concentration on speed signs, or on the speedo. The harsh consequences of licence loss from excess demerit points should not be inflicted on people who are detected driving 4kmh over the speed limit. A much fairer solution would be to issue small fines (up to $70) with no demerit points for speeds up to 9kmh over the speed limit. (This is similar to what they have in W.A.) 1 demerit point is fair for 10kmh to 15kmh over the limit, 3 points for anything over 15kmh above the limit. In Victoria drivers more than 25kmh over the limit get mandatory licence loss, so why do they have to suffer up to 8 demerit points as well? Demerit points should only be recorded against people who are avoiding immediate licence loss. At present in Victoria, drivers travelling 35kmh over the limit get 6 months licence loss plus 6 demerit points, which means they risk suffering suspension twice for the same offence. This is quite unfair.

[stui magpie]

[stui magpie]

[Skids]

[stui magpie]

Preety much the same here. 6 of the 12 points I racked up were for driving too slowly (missing the amber arrow on a turn by less than a second because of slow drivers in front of me) most of the rest were 1 point offences for 4-5 over the limit.

[Skids]

[David]

I think Stui's saying he got done for running a red light in the right-hand turning lane by being a fraction late because the other cars were taking it too slowly. Seems pretty harsh, given you get around one car on average going through on red in nearly ever right-hand turning sequence – it almost seems expected here in Melbourne.

[eddiesmith]

Yeah, I look for the cameras at every intersection to know if I'm going to take a chance or take it careful. First red light offence I got I never saw the camera despite going through the intersection every day for a month or 2 at that stage. But was due to the car in front suddenly stopping in front of me to do a u-turn and I was already halfway in the intersection when it went red...

I've been reasonably lucky, I should be on 0 points now as it's been either 3 or 4 years since my last ticket. Although I was lucky on my old car it was registered in Mums name so only ever got done when pulled over and that has to be excessive speeding. Last fine was for 129 on the Hume...

I am surprised I escaped my trip up north with no fines as it was so hard to figure where the cameras were even with signs everywhere as they stuck them in tunnels everywhere. At least here I know exactly where the Eastlink cameras are.

Roadside speed cameras usually stand out, especially on the freeways. I thought for sure I was done a month ago when I only saw it at the last second, at the bottom of a hill when I was probably doing 80 in a 70 zone...Got done in that same spot about 15 years ago as at night it's pitch black so hard to see a car on the side of the road.

[Bruce Gonsalves]

[stui magpie]

[Skids]

We just had a long weekend here and the double demerits/fines.

What a cluster f*8%. All the plebs, that can't drive at the best of times, putting along 10-15k's UNDER the limit on the freeway and highways.
I saw one bloke, frustrated by the 2 melons sitting side by side doing 55 in a 70, get a gap just before a set of lights that had changed to amber, he gunned it through and the light was well 'n truly red before he got there.

There's supposed to be a failure to keep left rule here, but I've never heard of, or seen it enforced.

We've had some major upgrades on the freeways here... now the knobs can sit along side each other 5 lanes abreast doing 10 under the limit.
It's amazing how these clowns just cruise along, oblivious to the rest of the world... jesus, my BP is going up just thinking about driving amongst the halfwits!

[Skids]

And they never learn.... fines are loose change to these flogs in their BMW'S, Mercedes and Audi's.


Huge number of drivers caught speeding through a school zone in Peppermint Grove

A huge number of drivers were caught speeding through a school zone in one of Perth’s most expensive suburbs last month - prompting police to label the behaviour as “very concerning”.

WA traffic cops have said that during one camera operation on February 22, more than 400 infringements were issued to speeding motorists as they drove though a school crossing managed by two wardens on Stirling Highway near McNeil Street in Peppermint Grove.

Between 2.40pm and 4pm, approximately 1,400 vehicles passed through the crossing.


Of these vehicles, 401 (29 per cent) sped through the school zone, with 281 motorists exceeding the school zone by 10-19kmh.

Twenty six drivers were caught exceeding the limit by 20-29km/h and two motorists were pinged for driving 30 to 39km over the 40km/h limit.


https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/police/huge-number-of-drivers-caught-speeding-through-a-school-zone-in-peppermint-grove-c-13834277

[pietillidie]

Crikey. I haven't been booked here yet, fingers crossed, but I still don't know enough to have a sense of the margins. One thing I have noticed is the people regularly seem to go 10km over on the Motorway, even under speed cameras! You read things, but it's very different than growing up somewhere where you have enough feedback and info to get a sense of how it works in practice. I suspect it's got something to do with what they call 'average speed cameras', which strike me as a sensible innovation (are they in Oz yet?):

https://www.carbuyer.co.uk/tips-and-advice/160228/average-speed-cameras-how-do-they-work

That said, it seems growing up in Melbourne won't help much if they're being that stingy on natural driving margins, especially given it's worse in traffic to not do what Stui did, and in other cases and conditions worse brake suddenly and not push on.

Do they still have hook turns in the city? I mastered those back in the day, but the innovation was always a source of amusement, if a very practical work around.

Whatever you do, if drive over here brace yourself for roundabouts and more roundabouts. I mean big ones you can't see the other side of with half a dozen exits such that Google maps regularly counts them wrong (or counts driveways and such as exits), and it's often impossible to guess the lane it's best to be in.

If you think of the history and density over here, there are so many junctions and cross-roads going to so many places great and small, and a lot of narrow old Victorians streets and roads, so that's the thing that differs most with Oz and its lower density and sparseness. Other than the dizzying array of unplanned roads (compared, say, to Melbourne's predictable grids and radials) and narrow streets whereby you have to let cars ahead come past and say half a dozen cars take it in turns to go, you won't have an issue.

[Culprit]

It's easy not to speed these days as most cars have cruise control. I will add you can still speed as well, you know the rules and it's the chance you take. Most road users are using the app "Waze". Live updates by individuals on where the Police are. Throw in that app and most car GPS have fixed cameras listed. Some Highways/Freeways have time over distance cameras, you know they are there. Now we have mobile phone cameras and I am all for those, if you have Bluetooth in your car and holding your phone you should be fined double. I will add I am always above the speed limit and I don't go off my speedo I go off my GPS, if someone wants to go faster than me I let them and then sit back from them and drive on their licence. It took me till I reached 24 years of age to get a full licence as I kept losing it for speeding. Back then on P plates, you got caught speeding, there were no fines it was disqualification. I even went to jail as I couldn't afford to pay the fines. Pity it isn't that way now.

[LaurieHolden]

I'm unaware if you've had the same e-scooter proliferation in VIC or NSW, however with the amount of scooter riders here in Brisbane I see not wearing helmets, there would be undoubtedly many fractured discussions between adolescents and their parents regarding (now $154) fines for not wearing helmets on scooters.

The fines:
Up to $575 for speeding
Up to $143 for not wearing a helmet.
Up to $1,078 for using a phone.
$143 for double riding
$173 for riding on a prohibited road

Unfortunately, I see too many that are old enough to know better riding those scooters without a helmet or the helmet on without the chin strap done up and clearly after a session.
They're speed limited to 24kph up here but coming off at even half that speed and belting your head are reportedly keeping emergency rooms full and waiting times stretched in an already overburdened hospital.
It's a tragedy young people just don't adhere to the risks. If we had more police on the beat riding bikes at regular intervals around the CBD, I'm sure they could get the message through quicker.
ME thinks it's well time to get a campaign to ensure if they don't care for their own safety, the demerit points to their driver's licence might be a bigger incentive.

Data from three emergency departments collated by the Jamieson Trauma Institute (JTI), found a total of 797 people went to hospital after being injured on an "electric personal mobility device", including e-bikes, e-skateboards, segways and hoverboards.
Brisbane data was collected in the 18 months to May 2020 from the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH), Princess Alexandra and Mater hospitals.
The majority of injuries, 624, were from e-scooters that had been hired.
Jamieson Trauma Institute researcher and RBWH emergency department staff specialist Dr Gary Mitchell said 54 per cent of those who went to hospitals were not wearing helmets.
People under the age of 35 accounted for almost 70 per cent of cases.

That data was from 2020, post speaking to ED nurses a few weeks back, its ballooned exponentially.

https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/safety/fines/cycling