Just got notification that I got caught speeding in Australia two months ago. $142 fine, about £70 at current rates. I was doing 106kph in a 100kph zone, which seems pretty slim for them to give me a ticket for. I thought generally in the UK they give you 10%.

Oh well, paid it now.

*Erects stake and lights match*

G!!!! Another Christian!

I got one in Oz too, but I didn’t pay it. I suspect Interpol are looking for me right now…. 🙂

I’m in no way saying I shouldn’t have been done for it, just that 6kph over the limit seems like a very small margin of error for their measuring equipment and a hire car speedo. as said, i’ve paid up and accepted the fact.

I’m sure this photo is from Australia.

And I’m sure in Australia it’s a valid legal defence. Well, probably worth a try. 😉

LOL

tankslapper – Member
G!!!! Another Christian!

Nah…. winding up Aussies doesn’t count its too easy

Nah…. winding up Aussies doesn’t count its too easy

Just mention “Chris Gayle” to them…..

An Australian traffic cop, yesterday:-

I managed to get 300e in traffic fines in 10 mins in Florence for driving in the wrong place. Best part was that two of the three tickets were for one for entering and the other exiting the same street. Not sure what you’re supposed to do once you’re in if leaving costs you.

Mr A this is the best one I saw when I was there. There was also a tv advert that said “don’t be a bloody idiot and speed”.

What happens if you don’t pay up? Out of interest

i presume it’ll go on my immigration record so if i want to go there again they might refuse a visa (seeing as my girlfriend is half australian i might well go back), also i imagine they’ll up the fine and pass it on to an international debt collection agency.

Tell you what though, you had a lucky escape just getting a ticket:
I’ve driven in many countries and by FAR the worst drivers I’ve ever seen are the Australians. I bought a motorcycle mag whilst I was there, and their poor standard of driving was mentioned in one article, so they even know it themselves!

i presume it’ll go on my immigration record so if i want to go there again they might refuse a visa (seeing as my girlfriend is half australian i might well go back),

Good point!

also i imagine they’ll up the fine and pass it on to an international debt collection agency.

Bollocks. If I wasnt going back I’d stick the fecker in the bin.

my cousin once got pulled over and fined doing 3mph over the limit in austrailia, on a highway (wide-ish dead straight 2 lanes) in the middle of nowhere. Apparently no one speeds, therefore anyone speeding even a little bit is conspiciuous and worth stopping.

I suppose you see this in busy motorways over here; I remember back when a speed camera was a real rarity, merrily doing 85ish on the m69 because there were cars coming past me at 95+, I thought they would get pulled over first!

There is a zero tolerance approach to speeding in Victoria state. They have sensors on the motorway gantrys that allow you to calibrate your speedo.

driving in Oz is great fun once you get out of the ‘cities’. we ragged a 3ltr straight six falcon across the nullarbor desert at silly speeds; stuck the cruise control on at 185kmph.

get off the ‘main’ roads and you are a rally driver. done this once and then realised we were on a golf course.

one reason the driving is so bad is because everyone is either pissed or stoned.

i forget the number of times i was offered weed whilst hitch-hiking. one time sticks in my memory. waited ten hours on the west coast for a lift. a ute pulls up and a middle aged aboriginie steps out. thought to myself “oh sh1t”. needless to say i got in. guy asked if i wanted a coke. said yes and opened the esky between us. was full of jack daniels in a can. he asked if i smoked. said yes and he told me to open the glove box. it was full of weed. the next 8 hours were somewhat hazy but i must say i was very impressed by his driving.

another time whilst hitch-hiking with the GF around Canberra – very twisty mountain roads. we got a lift from a trucker who had just woken up. we jumped in the cab and he asked the GF to pass him his 1st aid box. he proceeded to pull out a shiny straw and a little bag of powder. i asked him not to do that infront of the GF (was really thinking i do not want to die on these roads). he politely asked us to get out his his truck. we politely did so.

remember speaking to some trucker in a bar. he had just driven 27 hours straight from perth up the coast. it had taken me four days hitch-hiking to get there. his eyes were wired.

great country.

alpin 😆

On the way to Hebden via Holingsworth lake I saw a Rover MGZ? overtake an imaginary car infront of me. He then continued along the road and over a humpback bridge on the wrongside still. I was flashing and beeping him like crazy from behind and eventually he pulled into the left again (as he was turning at the lights). That HAD to be drugs!

Drove the entire Pacific Highway in Oz and had no problems – the only ‘misdemenour’ was crossing the street to get a parking space! Cop looked at me and wagged a finger; I shrugged and said ‘Irish’ he said ‘mate! that’s everyone’s bleedin’ excuse’ 😆

The trucks speed cos they all know where the cops are plus they’re all wired. Useful at night though because you get to your destination far faster with a 50 ton police aware, million lumens, roo/pissed driver battering ram 75 yards in front of you. Plus you don’t want them behind you.

man o man… the road trains in the NT.

we were in a V-dub kombi convoy. we’d take it in turns tail-gating – literally 12″ from the rear bumper – the other to save on fuel. then you’d see this mamoth thing in the rear view approaching fast. our top speed was about 80kmph. we’d swerve off the road and then this four trailer long beast would whizz past at around 160kmph (100mph). the poor little kombis would almost be sucked back onto the road with the displaced air.

and yes, road trains at night are an insurance god-send. just sit back a little because they swerve like crazy.

we saw a fresh camel on the side of the road with it’s head blown off. could only assume it was hit by a road train. the roo bars on the trucks are solid steel, the thickness of your forearm and upto 6′ high.

Spent two weeks last year hanging out with truckies in Queensland for a feature I was doing. Those road trains are monsters – 53m long, 150 tonnes, 650hp.
The days of drivers using speed to stay awake are gone as drug tests are mandatory but they don’t all have tachos yet.
Always give them right of way as they take 5km to slow down from cruising speed. I heard that plenty of tourists towing caravans in Qld have realised too late that the road train takes most of the road and won’t be pulling to one side. So the car driver swerves at the last minute and his caravan gets redistributed over the road. Didn’t hit anything while I was in the cabs but apparently a cow crumples like an accordian if hit from behind.
Back on topic, Aussie police have zero tolerance for speeding or drink driving. Aussies are still some of the worst drivers I’ve witnessed, exceeded only by Kiwis.

Kiwis make Aussies look like gentle, considerate, smooth drivers – honestly, its not even funny how bad they are.

When i was hitching in OZ (Melbourne to Cairns – took a while). I (and my gf at the time) got a lift from a lorry driver who had a big mining belt on the back of the truck. Nice bloke actually. As we trucked along i mentioned that i thought trucks were quite interesting but had never driven one. We stopped for a piss/pie stop and he suggested i drove the next bit – and was clearly very serious. So i thought i’d have a bash. **** me it was nervewracking, scary, dangerous but oh so fun !

Yes NZ drivers – always crashing head on and seem to think pulling out on you at the last mo is normal AND nz has the most STUPID right turn rule (or is it left?)

Is that like the famous Melbourne hook turn?

in victoria you can do a hook turn on a bike at any junction. now that would be exciting in a “shit, I hope I don’t die” way.

the car turning left into a side rd has to give way to a car turning right from the other side of the rd.
Oz tried this for a while then scrapped it cos it was stoopid! NZ are persisting.
everywhere else in the world does it the other way round.
i was going to look it up and post it but i cant be arsed.

re the speeding fine ‘a little bit over the limit’ and tolerances etc.
I got coaught a month ago here in France on a 70kph section of motorway through St. Etienne. I was caught doing 76kph, and the ticket said upto 75kph was allowed as a margin of error, so effectively I got done for 1kph over what they allow.

Effectively over what they allow is over.

re the speeding fine ‘a little bit over the limit’ and tolerances etc.
I got coaught a month ago here in France on a 70kph section of motorway through St. Etienne. I was caught doing 76kph, and the ticket said upto 75kph was allowed as a margin of error, so effectively I got done for 1kph over what they allow.

Effectively over what they allow is over.

and they let you live?
they should have cut you inbto tiny little pieces, using surgical expertise to keep you alive and throw the pieces at Nick Griffin, then pound you into dust for daring to touch the new fuhrer

Well, your entitled to your views. I would never dream of preventing people having views. Who would do such a thing?