A
Wolf wrote: The whole reason I was in court 20 times in a two year period was because I had 'discovered' the so-called 'Freeman movement' and when I got a speeding fine decided to test the movement's claims. I won the matter and in doing so found out some very interesting things about the 'legal system'. But none of it was decisive. Luckily I then got three more speeding fines, and a parking fine over the next several months (there was a major blitz over this period with new mobile speed cameras and my job means I am on the road almost every single day doing literally hundreds of kilometres a day).
B Spend a day in any court (I have spent many) and you will see how crowded they are with over 90% of matters being dealt with are 'traffic offences', mostly speeding.
C
has been demonstrated correct by studies showing that enforcing speed limits CAUSE accidents because drivers are taking their eyes off the road to constantly check their speed (a fact one of my police witnesses AGREED with on the stand once... even the cops know cameras do not prevent accidents and if anything cause them).
I'm just going to mention something here, as we have gone so far off topic as to be in a different timezone.
A) If you spend many days on the road, doing literally hundreds of kilometres a day, and yet you cannot keep within posted speed limits, then sorry, do the crime, do the time. This is the simplest requirement of ANY operator of a vehicle, and there are plenty of folks who have no trouble doing so. If you have a car fitted with cruise control, and pretty much all of them do these days, then there's no reason for i) exceeding the speed limit, or are you in a truck, or van, or semi-trailer/B-Double with no such aid?
B) Gee, I wonder why... if people are going to court 20 times or more to fight a speeding fine...
C) OVERCONFIDENT DRIVERS who won't stick to posted limits are a pretty massive risk on the road, and only someone in severe denial would claim otherwise. Not ALL accidents are caused by speed, but excess speed is a factor in a significant number of them. If you are unable to glance down at your speedometer for one second while driving at any speed, without somehow having your right foot press harder on the accelerator at the same time, then you do not have the necessary skills to be a good driver. Sorry, but this hoary old chestnut continues to surface in speeding fine arguments time and time again.
Distraction can come from many sources, but not one of the people I have spoken to about this very topic have said "Yeah, I looked down at my speedo, and went over the speed limit enough to get flashed by a roadside camera/nabbed by a highway patrol car/motorcycle cop. They pretty much admitted to 'just going a bit over the limit' indicating that they knew full well what the posted speed limit was, and CHOSE to go over 'just a bit'. Tempt fate enough, and it will get you. Gambling is a numbers game, and if you habitually speed, and don't get caught 95% of the time, you get a false sense of confidence that you won't get caught, and that the risk is worth taking. But then, 5% of the time, you could get caught speeding, or worse, have an crash. I won't use the word 'accident', as if you are willfully and intentionally driving faster than the speed limits posted (irritating though some of them may be if you're in a hurry or just impatient), and you wipe out, you only have yourself to blame.
I'm in the health and safety business, and if you tried what you have just described on many employers in this great brown land of ours, (that is, break the posted travelling speed limit, and thereby, THE LAW), you'd be out the gate within the hour. Why? Because your safety, and that of others, is why the vast majority of road rules exist.
But it's parking fines, too, by what you've said, so I see a pattern of non-conformism here. Now ordinarily, I would cheer the non-conformist, and I do applaud the vigour and energy you have put into the many threads you have posted here, Wolf, and parking fines are generally not life-threatening or have the ability to cause distress to other road users unless you've parked in a clearway, bike lane, emergency services spot, wheelie space or loading zone. Speeding, however, can be.
I get that you're up for fighting THE MAN on this, but it seems like it's become a bit of an obsession, and that's not healthy. You have chosen to pick your battles on the roads, but I sincerely hope you never lose control, wipe yourself out, or some other innocent road user. This 'ain't Mad Max.
Finally, until recently, I spent four hours per day commuting to work on the roads, from the country highways to inner city Brisbane... 5am to 7am and 3pm to 5pm, Monday to Friday. 240km per day, in fact and in the four years I've been doing that, I have gotten precisely ONE speeding ticket, for going 64 in a 60km/hr zone, down a hill, at Indooroopilly at 7am in the morning. I paid the fine, because I HAD been going faster down the hill, and CHOSE not to brake to slow my speed to the limit posted, because in my mind, I tried to justify it a dozen ways... I was nearly at work, it was early, nobody was around on the road that I could see behind and in front of me, all the BS little excuses your mind gives until you get caught out doing the wrong thing. One speeding ticket in 31 years of driving is pretty damn good going, but you see, that's what happens when you CHOOSE to speed, or not to speed. Everything's a risk, and I choose to not risk my life, and that of other road users in my selfish objective of having to get from A to B.
I would encourage anyone to read one of the many good books out there dealing with Health and Safety Culture, and acknowledge the "Acceptable Culture of Risk" we all hold in our minds, that forms our behaviours and responses to perceptions of risk and danger. It's rather sobering when you realise many people are gambling with their very lives.
Just to finish, it would have been better if you'd started a thread about speeding fines, not hijacked the same sex marriage plebescite debate thread. There's already been enough distraction about that topic, and I see no end to it, unfortunately.
Shazz
