My speeding ticket
Well that's what the copper called it when he gave me a warning for doing 56 k's in a school zone.
I'm cursing myself for I wasn't in a hurry and had forgot or not thought what time it was, had a car up my ring and
I was looking to pull over and let him pass.
$456 it could of been, but even more for my insurance was $130 higher because I'm missing 1 point and it takes three years
To get them back.
Is Speeding dangerous?
You bet, I spend more time looking at my speedo than the road!....
Mental process for following speed limits in Sydney on a 30km stretch:
Must not exceed:
100
40
80
70
60
80
100
50
40
60
70
80
70
80
50
WTF was the speed limit? Better keep to 60
Or you just follow the person in front like a good sheep.
I got fined and lost 2 points for going 46kmh in a school zone... it was on the Pacific HIGHWAY and I was just following another person!
I've never even seen any kids in a school zone, they all get dropped off by mothers in trucks (huge 4x4's).
School speed zones are bit of a joke, have little to do with safety and a lot to do with revenue raising. A school close to where I live have tons of kids going to there before 8am, walking along the road. However its full speed ahead. Come 8.30am to 9.30am, not a kid in sight as they are all in class, school speed zones in force. I think the speed zones are enforced on pupil free days too.
Select to expand quoteMobydisc said...
School speed zones are bit of a joke, have little to do with safety and a lot to do with revenue raising. A school close to where I live have tons of kids going to there before 8am, walking along the road. However its full speed ahead. Come 8.30am to 9.30am, not a kid in sight as they are all in class, school speed zones in force. I think the speed zones are enforced on pupil free days too.
My local paper had a series of people that got fined on pupil free days.
For a change, I think its not a bad idea. I don't know its a pupil free day, as I have no idea. So why should some people be ignoring the flashing lights because they know its a pupil free day?
On the other hand if they turn off the flashing lights on pupil free days, that makes sense.
The most dangerous things around schools can be the parents. Sometimes they don't realise they are doing stupid things and unwittingly teach their children to do stupid things like walk out onto crossings without looking.
Eh regardless, its a 400-600mt stretch of road. I never know when school holidays are so I just do 40. Not hard and never get a fine.
I love going past a cop glaring at me in a school zone because I was not another tally, you can almost see their disappointment.
I go through 3 school zones on the way to work and theres always kids around crossing the road and riding on their scooters (skateboards are making a comeback it appears).
School zones are a good thing imo and should be policed daily and no one let off.
School zone speeds should be permanently set to 40kph night and day, 7 days a week 52 weeks a year. Kids get used to the 40 k speed and base their experience on that but when they try to cross roads out of school hours they miss judge and have accidents. Also most times they cross near schools they are told when to cross by attendant so think that cars stop for kids. Seen it often.
Cops should spend more time educating those mothers / and grand parents picking kids up ............what a fken joke ...............and if the kids have not been told or learnt by kindaget fked . you can hardly blame a driver at 50 in a 40 zone ..............
Joke............ they hide cameras,,,,, have increased them 3 fold but it still takes 3 years to get your licence points back[b] ,,, per offence[/b] ...and the double demerits is a another joke
Look up
Double jeopardy for when you loose your points...................
Select to expand quoteDezman said...
You bet, I spend more time looking at my speedo than the road!....
Then you lack the competency needed to maintain control of your vehicle. Please immediately return your license to your local road traffic authority until you receive the further instruction needed to meet the level expected to utilise public roads in Australia
Cruise control also works just as well in urban areas as it does out on the highway...
Select to expand quoteTheWolf said...Dezman said...
You bet, I spend more time looking at my speedo than the road!....
Then you lack the competency needed to maintain control of your vehicle. Please immediately return your license to your local road traffic authority until you receive the further instruction needed to meet the level expected to utilise public roads in Australia
Yes Sir, right away.
I agree I'm a crap driver with paying attention.
I was doing 56 k's thinking I'm in a 60 k's zone, trying to do the right thing but I had no idea of the time.
Straight away I'm thinking where are the flashing sighs?
These stretch of road is like a highway though a small town with 90km on both sides coming and going.
The copper knew I wasn't trying to speed through there and said I should be paying attention more, But....
I'm sick of trying to keep up with all the signs, buy this and Mac's over here and all. Gees lets clean up the eye
Pollution, fix hard to see signs and known spots for when you pull over a 100 people and they all say they missed it!
Well maybe the signs needs moving or high lighting.
The man in a Gorilla suit proves people can't see everything!
Select to expand quoteTest pilot 1 said...
Kids get used to the 40 k speed and base their experience on that but when they try to cross roads out of school hours they miss judge and have accidents.
Firstly - I have 3 young kids so appreciate school zones although I disagree with them as a solution.
Unfortunately, modern distractions (ipods, phones) mean that we probably need them but imo, teaching your kids how to cross a busy street, regardless of speed zones, is a necessary life skill. I teach my kids that there is never a reason to rush or hurry across a road... even to the point that I (nervously) once watched my 9yo wait over 5mins to cross the road by himself in front of our house. 
The highest revenue speed camera in NSW is the school zone on the Princes Highway at Kogarah. There is a huge fence down each side of the road, and a pedestrian walkway over the road. It is impossible for a kid to wander onto the road! But, yes the road travels past a school, and so we must have this bottle neck at the busiest time of day.
This on sums it up for me.
There's this inter section with a set if lights. It has a green arrow for making a left turn but no green arrow for turning right. Traffic is usually heavy both ways so in order to turn right you need to edge out into the intersection and generally squeeze thru as the last car when the lights change. It's a pain in the bum and has been like this for years. Last month the council decided to act. Instead of installing a set of lights with a right arrow ( to fix the well known problem), they install a red light camera to nab people for fixing it themselves.
For me that shows their intentions pretty clear.
alot of misguided thoughts here, school zones are great, kids can be educated but they dont have judgement. 10k's over in a school zone is far more dangerous than 10k's in a hundred zone (some may argue speeding is speeding but look at the odds of coming into contact with a pedestrian). However all school zones should have the flashy light speed limit signs & im sure the speeding tickets everyone pays affords this. Some school zones need to be thought out better, my kids school & nearby high school uses 5 crossing points. 4 are unsigned, unmarked & outside of the 40 area. The one attended crossing is the least used. & where do the cops focus... the most pointless section that has little to do with the school as thats where they can catch the most people.
Yes the speedlimit changes are shocking, why they cant go partial 40, 60, 80 & 110 is non-sensical. I hear the comment about sydney, as an interstater I'd never drive there without gps as i never have an idea what the damn speedlimit is there.
The govt really needs to address all of the lazy roadworks signage, posted limit without works going on, some areas have roadworks posted & policed without any works happening on that section for 6 months. In this case it is revenue raising, hazardous, tiresome, damaging to productivity & their precious economy. Maybe they need to earn enough speeding tickets to pay for the dodgy roadworks 
Select to expand quoteChris6791 said...
Cruise control also works just as well in urban areas as it does out on the highway...
I do the same.
Select to expand quotemkseven said...
alot of misguided thoughts here, school zones are great, kids can be educated but they dont have judgement.
Not sure the thoughts are misguided - school zones don't help kids' judgement at all. It nurses them past the age where they should be getting taught (by their parents) to be able to make critical judgement calls. It's too easy to simply drop kids off at school knowing that you don't have to teach them these life skills because traffic is slower 'at that location'. Also - nothing wrong with the grumpy old lollypop man (PC:'person') that we grew up with IMO. We were in deep sh!t if we crossed a road without using the crossing within his eyesight and got a very boring but lengthy lecture.
As I mentioned - modern distractions are the biggest issue, which makes it very hard to argue with implementing reduced speed limits in school zones.
^^^ Proves that there was either a negligent driver or irresponsible adult with kids not paying attention to traffic - proves nothing but media hype of a tragic accident.
If ambos reckon a speed reduction in an area is needed though, I'd go with that.
Select to expand quoteSailhack said...
^^^ Proves that there was either a negligent driver or irresponsible adult with kids not paying attention to traffic - proves nothing but media hype of a tragic accident.
If ambos reckon a speed reduction in an area is needed though, I'd go with that.
I agree that it doesn't actually say speed was an important factor. I just read the story and the related articles. It sounds like the area is bad for parking, which makes it more dangerous. It doesn't say that the accident was caused by speed, and given the car drove off the road, its not a matter of a kid darting out into the road either.
I live near a school, and sometimes it is the idiot parents that park 'legally' but in stupid places that make it more dangerous. I am sure they would deny that they are making it more dangerous, not realising that they are. In a short stretch of road people get up to 50kmh and then have to stop at the intersection. Why people need to do this has got me stumped, and when cars are parked so densely, its just sensible to drive a bit slower in case someone pops out in front of you. I would argue its stupidity/lack of thinking that's the problem, and not the speed limit as such. You don't have to drive at the speed limit when its obvious you can't see things.
Select to expand quoteMobydisc said...
School speed zones are bit of a joke, have little to do with safety and a lot to do with revenue raising. A school close to where I live have tons of kids going to there before 8am, walking along the road. However its full speed ahead. Come 8.30am to 9.30am, not a kid in sight as they are all in class, school speed zones in force. I think the speed zones are enforced on pupil free days too.
No moby they are not a joke. I have pulled a crossing lady and a child back from being hit by a car when the driver neither slowed to 40 or even stopped for the flags. .
. our local school crossing is a shockerand we often have extra parent watching over the crossing lady and kids.
weve even had police with stop signs almost run over by people simply not looking.
how important is your day that you cant slow down for a few hundred metres
I'm sure if you asked most people that get a ticket for speeding they would say did't realise what zone they were in.
My ticket today!
Yes unrego trailer! One of 6 rego's iv got was missed at the RTA!
I was in 8days ago paying up and transferring rego's and the woman told me I was paid up
Over the counter. So I'm watching my speed like a hawk determined not to get a ticket and imagine
My surprise at seeing the flashing lights.
16 days it ran out and iv been driving around thinking I'm paid up, stupid me? Or no rego stickers anymore
Makes it hard to keep track.
The copper tells me iv got a good case for getting off the $607 fine as iv only one ticket in 27 years of driving.
Well iv sent my plea to the powers online and wait nervously for a reply, can't believe how much stress this causes
Me and I don't know how some people cope with losing their licence and paying these fines.
Select to expand quoteDezman said...
I'm sure if you asked most people that get a ticket for speeding they would say did't realise what zone they were in.
My ticket today!
I hope you laughed at him and told him to learn how to spell 
Yes, with the automated system, nothing unregistered should get past the police these days.
I agree though, without rego labels its easy to miss renewing one.
Well I go into the RTA to ask what can be done, and here's the nuts of it.
Even though you ask them a question they are not responsible for you keeping your rego in date and you must keep
Your paperwork in order!
I got a rep. To show I was in there transferring a caravan,paying a car rego and a trailer rego 'not the one in question' 7 days before the fine,
And of course I would of paid the $60 for the lapsed one.
No phone call yet or email to plead my case if I get the chance.
I could go to court but the stress is just not worth it!
Oh the second girl looking into it had trouble working it out as when they bring your name up all the rego's
You ever had are there mixed together on the screen!
Select to expand quoteFormulaNova said...Dezman said...
I'm sure if you asked most people that get a ticket for speeding they would say did't realise what zone they were in.
My ticket today!
I hope you laughed at him and told him to learn how to spell
Yes, with the automated system, nothing unregistered should get past the police these days.
I agree though, without rego labels its easy to miss renewing one.
You should be able to get off on a technicality by stating that you were not using a TRAILOR.
Select to expand quoteDezman said...
Well I go into the RTA to ask what can be done, and here's the nuts of it.
Even though you ask them a question they are not responsible for you keeping your rego in date and you must keep
Your paperwork in order!
I got a rep. To show I was in there transferring a caravan,paying a car rego and a trailer rego 'not the one in question' 7 days before the fine,
And of course I would of paid the $60 for the lapsed one.
No phone call yet or email to plead my case if I get the chance.
I could go to court but the stress is just not worth it!
Oh the second girl looking into it had trouble working it out as when they bring your name up all the rego's
You ever had are there mixed together on the screen!
Do what the cop suggested and send in a nice letter saying that you have been a good law abiding citizen for x number of years and that you didn't realise your trailer's rego was expired, as you went to the RTA only a few days before and they said nothing. 'You won't do it again' and all that jazz. It doesn't sound like it was expired for more than a year, so its not as if you make a habit of it.
Sending a letter does seem to work the first time, although I worry that they apply the same logic to an unregistered trailer as someone speeding.
For some other things, I think they just send back a stock standard reply, 'we have reviewed the circumstances... blah blah blah, the fine still stands'. I got this one when you couldn't see the 40k speed sign because it was covered by a tree, and the sign on the road was covered by the car in front of me (go figure). Its not worth the hassle to chase it unless you have the time and are certain you will succeed, and in your case, it will be difficult.
Thanks formulaNova, iv sent in a email request for a waver of the fine as the' trailor' was only out by a few days.
But you only get so many words in the box and that's why I hope they ring.
But really it's the state revenue that I'm begging to let me off and their job is to keep the money!!!!
I think a few of you are missing the point here. Driving is a privilege not a right. 4 kids hit in school zones in Sydney this week - not much fun. Yes it would be nice if all school zones had flashing lights - in this day and age there is no reason why they do not - but you should be aware of the surroundings you are in at all times otherwise you have the potential to be a menace on the road and it's not fair on others. Some roads are terrible with all their speed changes - it feels like every 200m sometimes. Take the precautionary approach and leave 5 mins before you need to. The road toll is horrific. I would agree that some speed cameras would appear to be revenue raisers but seriously if you do not speed there is nothing to worry about. I wish more red light cameras were put in. Personal responsibility seems to be lacking on many things in our society at present. There is always someone else to blame it seems. What a hoax.
Select to expand quoteDezman said...
Thanks formulaNova, iv sent in a email request for a waver of the fine as the' trailor' was only out by a few days.
But you only get so many words in the box and that's why I hope they ring.
But really it's the state revenue that I'm begging to let me off and their job is to keep the money!!!!
10 yr good driving record will help you on demerit point offences - not school zone though - but will give you no upside re rego. Personal responsibility is the only thing that will help you. It sucks sometimes but thems the rules. Use your electronic calendar reminder function on your email to give you a warning 2 weeks out. Will save you lots of problems in the long run. If I let my lady take control of her rego it would be a terrible result to our personal finances - the night after we met and she was driving me home I looked at her rego sticker on the windscreen in front of me and saw it was 2 mths out of date! Early warning bells that she could not be trusted on these matters
