Pulled by the cops :(

chameleon · Post by **chameleon** » Sun May 14, 2006 8:35 pm

he'll scream and he'll kick but he'll pay the fines in the end. The worst mistake he made was telling the officer that he had no idea what speed he was doing

Your always doing the speed limit, that is until you pay the fine or lose in court.

Post by **dave#3** » Sun May 14, 2006 9:41 pm

Grunt06GPX wrote:I never said I could speak proper english.

Fair enough I suppose, point taken.

thewonderer · Post by **thewonderer** » Sun May 14, 2006 10:43 pm

chameleon,

i don't know whether it was a mistake to say i was looking at the road, not my speedo... if i'd said i'd been doing the speed limit and i was say 10k's over fair enough... i don't think i'd p*ss off the officer, but if it's blatantly obvious that i was going faster than the speed limit, all it would have done would antagonise him and the situation and i would have got into worse trouble... As I stated him already verbally threatned to knock me off my bike and almost had steam coming out of his head.

chameleon · Post by **chameleon** » Sun May 14, 2006 11:48 pm

your probably right wonderer, and no doubt did the right thing. I just have a rule, I never admit to anything. I guess you could have said your throttle got stuck

Good luck in court if you decide to go that way.

AneemA · Post by **AneemA** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:06 am

The extra 4 months (where are you getting 4 from? The magical number for accumulation of demerit points is 3, unless on good behaviour, then it's 6) can be served concurrently as well.

So you shouldn't serve a day longer than 6 months. Although, leaving the country might actually hinder you, as these things take time to process so if you aren't hear to reply to all the letters appropriately then you may end up serving more.

The suspensions will all come starting at different dates, you have to go into the Queensland Transport centres in person to have them start it earlier. They can only start it on the day that you go in there.

So basically the day that the earliest suspension starts, take the others in with you and get them to start those on that day as well.

If you are overseas this might pose a problem, that is if you decide not to fight it in court, if you want to go to caught wait till the last day before you had to pay the fines before going to the magistrates court (the new one, on Roma St) to fill out the appeal application papers.

They will set a court date and time there and then. You will then have to go to Queensland Transport and show them the paper work so they can reinstate your licence until the hearing.

Its a big hassle thats for sure.

thewonderer · Post by **thewonderer** » Mon May 15, 2006 12:03 pm

http://www.transport.qld.gov.au/qt/LTAS ... eritpoints

Once you have at least 12 demerit points recorded against your traffic history in a three year period and you are holding a Queensland open licence, you will be sent an Accumulation of demerit points-notice to choose.

This notice will require you to choose one of the following options:
Having your licence suspended for a stated period or
Agreeing to be of good behaviour while driving for one year (known as a Good Driving Behaviour (GDB) period).
You will be taken to be of good driving behaviour while driving for a year if no more than one demerit point is allocated to your traffic history during that year.

What is the stated period of suspension for an open licence?
The stated period of suspension for an open licence is calculated as follows. If you accumulate:
At least 12 but not more than 15 demerit points-three months.
At least 16 but not more than 19 demerit points-four months.
20 or more demerit points-five months.

(

I am assuming that the suspension for my motorcycle covers car driving as well (complete open licence)...

So if i understand correct, I can have the additional 4 months suspension taken at the same time or there about as the 2 6 month suspensions...?

Thanx

daffy67 · Post by **daffy67** » Mon May 15, 2006 12:07 pm

Tell me, was he overweight and has a moustache, really deep gruff voice and abused and accused you of every offence under the sun??
Sounds like the one that pulled me over on Samsonvale Rd, i was not speeding i got into trouble for my 'partially obscured' number plate.
Boy did i cop a serve, funny thing is i kept my calm and i never got a ticket.

He's from Petrie Traffic Support. A week after this i was pulling out on samsonvale rd again and i saw him up the road a bit, he sped up and tailgated me for at least 1klm-fair and square less than 3 ft rom my rear wheel. If i had decided to 'emergency brake' he would have crashed into me for sure, who would have got the ticket then??

There's no need to abuse the crap out of people when you pull them over.

To cut another long story short, in Sydney in the 80's i was in a car with mates and we got pulled over by a bike cop.
Got booked with several offences, we went to court and won. His evidence was crap basically, and we stuck to our story.
Later on this same officer was dismissed from the NSW police service as he lost too many cases and his service record was less than stellar. Our lawyer defended more than one client against this same officer and he told us what happened later on.

Stereo · Post by **Stereo** » Mon May 15, 2006 12:17 pm

I think speed matching is pretty much undebatable in court.... The courts see it as an accurate (enough) way of determining speed...

But having someone guestimate your speed in the dark, from the sound of your engine... thats pretty dodgy....

Im sure many police are good at guessing speeds from a visual, and audio check..... but not all of them are.... I would fight that one...

Remember, you dont have to disprove that HE is good at it, just that "the police" are good at it...

I am positive that no police officer was ever told "If you dont have a radar gun, or you have not matched his speed, just GUESS how fast he is doing and write him a ticket"...

AneemA · Post by **AneemA** » Mon May 15, 2006 1:11 pm

The wanderer: Cheers, learn something new everyday. You will still be able to serve the 4 months concurrently with the other 2 x 6 month suspensions.

Another thing to consider if you want to fight this is what it will do to your insurance. While they are all served at the same time they still are individual suspensions so when they ask that magic question "Have you had your licene suspended or disqualified in the last 5 years?" you get to answer yes three times..

You only have one licence, car and bike are different classes within that licence. So you lose both.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Mon May 15, 2006 2:08 pm

Grunt06GPX wrote:Can it really be proved and used though, the motorcycle officer was "matching speed" from a stop facing in a completely different direction,...

I have no idea for what distance the police officer followed the alleged offender. But yes, it is considered usable evidence.

Grunt06GPX wrote:...meaning he would have to had go turn around and then travel at a faster speed then thewonderer to be able to catch upto thewonderer before the redlight and be able to travel with thewonderer for a distance of a few hundred meters at the same "matched speed" before thewonderer stoped at said redlight.

I also have no idea how long the road is, but that's exactly what would have happened. I also have no idea from what point the police officer allegedly started.

Grunt06GPX wrote:If you read down what Ive quoted by Sean Hardy (traffic offence specalist barrister) it's not really an accurate assesment of the speed of thewonderers bike and there is room for alot of doubt in thewonderers case. (snip comments)

I couldn't give a rat's what Mr Hardy says regarding the accuracy of the matched speed method. The fact remains that it's a valid evidence of a traffic infringement, especially at 40km/h over the limit!

Grunt06GPX wrote:The police dont want to waste time arguing about accuracy in court, precisely thewonderers case, the accuracy of the "speed measuring device" is extremely poor, a single person.

*chuckle*

They may not like going to court to defend the "measuring device," but defend it they will.

Grunt06GPX wrote:I think "maintaining even distance detection" method only works if used as a scare tactic and the person just pays the fine, but once again see a solicitor asap.

You can think what you like, but it won't change facts.

By all means, yes, the OP should probably see a solicitor about the first fine as it would appear to be dodgy. The second would seem a little more difficult to overcome.

By the way, if the original poster was legitimately copped at that much over he shouldn't be whining about it. He would have known that he was exceeding the speed limit by a substantial amount, and that there was the possibility of a fine/points loss. Accept a little responsibility.

If he honestly believes that he's not guilty, then by all means fight it. Just be prepared for failure.

thewonderer · Post by **thewonderer** » Mon May 15, 2006 2:18 pm

The original poster is not going to fight the speeding ticket. It's not like it was slightly in excess of 40 on the ticket.

I will however be sending a letter to the officer in charge of that station disputing having 2 identical tickets, identical times, just different roads put on each ticket. I think that it is unfair to have 2 tickets for the same thing. I will be drafting a letter and will put a copy up here for advice on the wording.

I did call a lawyer and he didn't seem to be too useful, but it sounds to me like the above way is the way to go, otherwise the cost of fighting in court will be crazy.

I also understand I can apply for a 12 month good behaviour which i will look into to.

Cheers,

Martin

photomike666 · Post by **photomike666** » Mon May 15, 2006 2:22 pm

I've followed this thread in silence for a bit, and there are lots of pros and cons. If it was a revenue raising speed camera I'd say fight it, and perhaps with the given situation you could get it reduced to a single ticket - but at 40 over booked by a traffic cop, the courts will take the cops side and may decide to make an example of you.

If it were 40 over on a freeway it may be fightable - but in 70/80 limits high speed is gonna get ya name in the papers. This could be one of those situations to walk away, live & learn.

elrond · Post by **elrond** » Mon May 15, 2006 2:44 pm

Fight it to the death.

The law is the law.

I can't remember which system the courts use for this type of offence (its either 'balance of probablilities' or 'beyond a reasonable doubt') but the onous isnt on you to prove your *innocence* its on the cops' to prove your *guilt*

if you can create reasonable doubt in the technique and circumstances leading to the infringements you will get off.

Thankfully we don't live in total police state yet (don't get me started on the liquor licensing laws

) and the law is as much your ally as it is your enemy.

or if you're rich and don't care pay the fines and catch a bus...

AneemA · Post by **AneemA** » Mon May 15, 2006 3:06 pm

Wonderer: This is one of the few things I feel I don't know 100% about within the area of Queensland Licencing Suspensions, but, I'm not entirely sure if the Good Behaviour Driving Period is available to those caught over 40km/h above the speed limit.

Also, be wary of the Good Beavhiour Driving Period. If you accumulate more than 1 demerit point in that time you will be walking for twice as long. If I had my time again I would have taken my 3 month suspension early last year, instead, over a year later, I'm walking with another 3 months still to go.

Neka79 · Post by **Neka79** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:06 pm

mate..what can i say....

1. a cops word is better than urs in a judges eyes.

2. the lawyer i saw wanted $200 an hour..and $1200 upfront before hed even take my case...and if i lost the case, i was looking at court costs, as well as my fines..is it worth it to lose the case??

3. you did the wrong thing. Stop being a sook and take it on the chin (i hand my licence in in 8 days or so...for another spell)

4. it sucks, but if we dont like the ramnifications, dont get caught..or better still, DONT SPEED.

5.any "mates mate whos a lawyer" or studying law, or kno it all will tell u to fight it, cos u have a chance. Any real lawyer or cop u ask will tell u to take it like a man...cos ur likely to get less..especially the fines.

now..this thing abt serving ur suspension concurrently?? is there ne truth in it??

i lost my lic for 6 months for DUI last yr...got it back but had a 12 month probationary licence, with only 1 point..however i got a 3 point offence (speeding) and also lost it for 3 months....
so can i serve the 3 month & the 6 month at the same time??