Help. Like. Now.

[Ozie]

c'mon Sheil' be right!

[Bobcat_GTS]

I got a automated photo enforcement ticket not too long ago when I was driving in a city I'm not familiar with. I was trying to figure out where I needed to turn after the intersection and I accidently ran the red light. Opps! The ticket cost me $100 not to mention gas to drive back to that city to pay the fine because I didn't have the money in time to get it in the mail. Luckily I didn't get any points for it since I wasn't speeding, but it still sucked having to pay $100. Photo enforcement sucks! At least with a cop pulling you over you get a chance they will just give you a warning, no such luck with photo tickets.

[Shadows]

Really feel sorry to hear that josh, i wish i have some solution for you. sigh!!!!!

[jamez707]

does anyone know the shutter speed on cop cameras?

i wonder how fast you would have to be going to blur the photo

[Ozie]

the Mythbusters tried all methods... No Go...

[momo]

hope you can find a solution to the problem

[Josh_Emerton]

Top Gear tried to see hwo fast u can go until u dont appear in the second shot - (The camera takes two shots and measures the TIME taken by the car to travel the distance) - and its about 170mph but i wasnt going that fast lol...

[Shaunoh]

You got caught and theres no way out of it mate...Been there done that it leaves you with lawyer fees and more shit than you can handle

Buy a bus pass an yeh....theres no loop holes like the cheque method...

[TheRents]

dude you can always go to court and try... might i say TRY to tell your side of the story but i don't like your chances, not having a shot at you but you said you were thinking about bowls and not driving man you might even end up with a neg driving charge go see a lawyer cough up the cash and let them fight it in court, you might get one of those special licences you can use for work.....

[TheRents]

buddy how long before your off your good behaviour bond?

[Tarquin]

Just wasnt concentrating and slipped up...

** I will premise this post by saying I am 36. I have been driving regularly since I was 11 y.o. and my first car was a Mazda 121 (Festiva shape). I did 170000 odd kms in that little 4 cylinder FWD between getting my license at 17 and University at 22. I have also lost a friend to a young person driving a speeding car.... He was walking down the pavement to get milk at the corner store.
I will also say 'sorry' now for any language you may read. If it offends anybody who reads it, especially Josh, I am sorry also. I am not directing this at you Josh - It is just the catalyst for my thoughts.


Sorry Josh - but I have to snap at this thread and I am a little concerned as to why it's been made a sticky?

'Slipped up' Josh? Yes, you did... and you got caught.
Stiff shit... Suck it in.... pay the fine and face the pending consequences of loosing your license and not being able to drive your CJ or any other car for a period of time. Oh... and there's your Dad too - Good luck with that....

Oh.... and slow the hell down !! On auto pilot or not... it should be set to 60kmh or the posted limit, so you can go on these walk-abouts in your mind and still be at a safe speed to control your vehicle and not get caught.

I am on two Good Driving Behaviour Bonds. (don;t ask me how, loophole in the law)

I have 3 prior speeding convictions, all minor - 10-15k's over.
I have had my license for 11 months 3 days

Josh, I am sorry, but from your admitted post of current license status, using some loopholes to stay on the road, having a license for less than a year, a speeding fine every 3 months or so and already with 2x good driving beahviour bonds to boot - What were they for, I'd be asking...?

After reading some of the other background posts in other threads about how you are wanting to study Law, I am just disgusted (but not too surprised), that you even think you should even be entitled to finding a way out of this fine.
This is the sort of fine that will make you stand up an realise that there are consequences to your driving actions and to remind you how much you need a license to be on the public roads....

Which is where my general rant begins....

In general, I am disturbed and disgusted with the current standard of 'P Plater's age' drivers [Y generation?] I see on the road, and others too mind you.
People who think stop signs are only give way signs...
Driving while on the mobile phone (one of my biggest pet hates)
Not able to stay within their own lane - either driving in a straight line or the ones who think they need to swing out wide into my lane, to get around a corner..... BAH !

To name only a few, basic road rules which are should be common driving craft for people with respect to those rules.

I steer as far away as I can from P Platers when I see them in high performance cars (Ricers and the like) and V8 powered, heavy, performance cars. Ones who think that they have all the experience and knowledge they need in a year or so of driving to get into a big, powerful, heavy car and be able to drive anyway they like and still survive - Regardless of what they think they are doing is safe or not.....

I only need to sight recent examples in Australia of 'P' Plater's dying and killing others in speed related car accidents - and don't get me started on drink driving.... geeezzzz

That Lancer Coupe in Melbourne(?) that had 7, yes, 7 !!! young people in the car. It crashed, after it jumped over and off a medium strip... flew across to the other side of the road and hit a light pole.... killed nearly all of them I think. Speeding, funnily enough.
And the Victorian Police said "If they were all restrained inside the seatbelts, then it's not illegal" - WTF?? I mean, really.... Why would u even get in the car - let alone drive it.

Then there was another recent one in country Victoria, I think, that was a Subaru WRX with 4-5 local Schoolies aged young people in the car that hit a tree, in the wet, at night... after loosing control, 50kmh over the speed limit.....

Yes, yes, many kids get to drive a car much earlier than the legal age and most have probably been taught by family early on etc... [part of the issue IMO, passing on bad habits]
That's not to say that they're any better drivers than the n00b who has had 100 lessons and failed the test 3 times already.... I'm not talking about ppl who have grown up with karting in their background either.... I mean, how old is Lewis Hamilton ffs and he's F1 Champion !!!?? hahahaha

** I first drove a Suzuki Handy at 7 years old on a dusty football field and was regularly driving off road from 11.... I have had various high skilled driver training instructions over the years, even a weekenf training by Penti Arikia when he was rallying in Lancia Beta Intergale's... OMG was that a cool weekend.... with access to several Ferrari powered Lancia's

The total lack of respect for the size, weight, speed and potential energy that an object like a car has at any speed, let alone at a possible 40-60kmh over the posted speed limits !!! - ohhh, and look where the speed camera was... where u were caught speeding....?
You're probably not the only one in dream land, on Auto-pilot going down a road you go down every other day....

Is that revenue raising? maybe - or is it just smart research in location selection on behalf of the boys in blue?? More likely to be a traffic black spot or from local resident complaints.

A total disrespect for the rules of the road or knowledge of the rules of the road and the safety of themselves and more importantly the other innocent drivers on the road around them.
I couldn't care less if you killed yourself speeding, and I'd probably say "shouldn't have been speeding" if I saw it on the news - not knowing you from Adam.
But if you hit another car, because you were speeding, and killed a family of 4, and you survived.... I'd be wanting to put you into a small padded cell, shaped like a car, and I'd throw away the key.

There are rules on the racetrack too, are there not? So don't try and justify any racing experience on the track to explain why you were speeding and if you could do it safely or not.
I don't know you, u don't know me, and we both certainly don't know how each other drives - but I refer again back to that list you posted.... 5 offenses in 11 months... Year 2 is looking good then isn't it.....

You'll have no points on your license after this, it'll probably be disqualified and unless you can get a special license for work (which you probably can't - because you don't work).
What I hate even more are the ones who then go and drive without a license instead - because the Bus sucks.... even worse IMO - and again with no respect to the rules and others on the road.
** I think they did that at the Gold Coast recently.... Cops sat outside the courts and busted the people driving home after having their license canceled.....

I think my total driving record in 20 something years is a few parking tickets, a handful of speeding tickets - only one over 35kmh, coming back from Armidale with a nice copper who actually brought the fine down to the bracket from the one above; The most recent this year in my new VR. First ticket in over 10 years - 12 kms over the limit.... At 1am, on a down hill section, 20-30m into a 60kmh zone....

2x crossing double white lines doing 'illegal turns' - one for turning into a petrol station to go thru it in an attempt to jump a light change; 2nd doing a u-turn in a small side street with about 2 others lost in Sydney. Big copper sting in that street at the time as many people do the turn we just did.

2x physical crashes - Only me in the car both times. One in a badly performed, over-correcting Scandinavian flick turn in the 121 on a well known dirt road I use.... sideways into a tree. The other was into the back of a girl at a set of lights (doing 40-50kmh) as I thought she was actually going to go thru the intersection, as we both went through the amber light and had already passed the line and didn't need to stop very late instead - like, halfway into the intersection....
I too had a lot on my mind then.... I had been sacked 4 days earlier.... found out we were pregnant with our first child 2 days later and I was on my way from handing in my forms to my ex-employer to get the wife, to take her to the doctors to confirm that pregnancy..... she was not happy, I can tell u..... lol

Every new learner driver should do what they have to do in Finland.... 6 lessons have to be done on skidpans... lessons are held in the dark and it takes 3 years to get a full license.
I'd be voting for any laws to tighten and restrict P Plate drivers... curfews, HP & cc restrictions... passenger number limits at different times of the day.... mandatory defensive driver training sessions, they have to pay for..... Anything for them to realise they are mortal beings.

/rant over

Saying all of that - You've got a few chances to consider....

You said the light flash blinded you? Did it take a photo of you as you approached it (in front) or as you passed it (from behind)?
This is relevant, because legally (I thought in Qld.) they can only take accurate speed scans and photos of the rears of cars, going away from the camera and radar equipment.

So in theory, if you were approaching the van and it's on the other side of the road and u see the flash - and you're the only thing that set it off - then you shouldn't get a fine and photo of yourself in the post.

My Brother has got off a speed camera fine - by paying it....

He paid the fine by cheque and posted it into them with a letter explaining that he did not think the fine was justified... he was not doing over the listed speed by very much (it wasn't very much - unlike possibly yours), and the van was parked on a hill and in an unsafe and concealed manner.... he sent in a picture with it of the van, in situ.
They send his money back to him, and said, basically 'yes' to all he had listed....

Failing that - I'd suggest you work out some local Bus routes and I hope you enjoy your walking.....

[Tarquin]

Yes - it covers all, and I am targeting P Platers yes, mainly because this was started by a person with only 11 months of a license....

These are the new road users, and they need to acknowledge that and respect that lack of knowledge and experience and drive within the limits... personal, legal, mental and driver ability......

If that was me, with that record of offences with less than year driving, I'd be at 50kmh everywhere i went and be on the cruise control constantly - which I am anyway... Cruise control at 60kmh is so sweet..... lol

Sorry - just a pet gripe of mine.... Hopefully he can learn from this, and slow down.....

Sure cars go fast, but here's a time and place for everything.... I'm not saying we all have to drive like grandma's and I for one am a hypocrite, as I speed quite a lot.....

The difference is, I don't get expect to get caught because I only tend to do it in when there is no-one around, in safe conditions, and then in short bursts and where I have a more than reasonable expectation that there will not be police there to catch me doing it..... Time and Place....