Wacky Dee

sweet thanks, I'm 90% in

that's the thing, don't have a drivers licence ATM Can anyone confirm or deny if a cams licence will be enough for this day ??

how much is a cams licence for 6/12 months any ideas? Do I need to be a member of SAU NSW to get a CAMS licence ? Cheers I'm definately interested in this especially as it's a driver training day (and it'd be my first track day) but being a wednesday I'm not 100% I'll be able to make it.

drivers licence required? or can you use a cams/similar type of licence?

I'm probably going with my mate or my dad who will drive me up there as I've lost my road licence .. spoke to the chap on the phone, tells me there's only 6 people booked in for sunday so far so it's gonna be very quiet and lots of track time for $100. It starts at 8 AM and goes to about 4 PM .. helmets required for the track and they provide a yearly licence for $25. Helmet hire is $25 for the day also if you don't have one. I haven't drive in a week (only 24 more to go !! farrrrk...) and miss my baby so this will be a good time to enjoy some driving on a good road without worrying about pot holes, generic speed limits or the popo. This is NOT an official sau track day and there is no official timing involved. It's just for fun and/or learnng the limits of your car. http://mdtc.com.au/

um as above ? also, is a driver's licence required for skidpan days??

yeah OK mate, you know THREE cops 2 of whome are highway cops. I bet the rest of SAU members combined don't know as many cops combined. Sorry but I don't buy that BS for a second. And what would a copper say anyway ? Oh yeah we f**k up a lot of our prosecution cases, so if you ever get suspended go for it mate! Or more likely the "We are invincible and you're gonna get raped if you f**k with us" type of attitude. Hah, when I spoke to a cop on the phone the other day just inquiring about some details about the fine the moron on the other end tried to intimidate me with the same bullshi "you've got no chance if you wanna take this to court mate <copper x> is a solid operator rah rah". We shall see. My next goal is to get my hands on the summons and charges so that I know what sort of LIDAR they used. Then i'm gonna try and dig up the user's manual / police guidelines. Just from reading various web site SO FAR (which is only a few hours) I can tell you that they've most likely f**ked up more than one guideline for using Lidar. These guidelines are there to ensure accuracy of the devices. Without accuracy the results are worthless and the magistrate might just agree with me. There's also a good chance their in car video is useless due to where/how they parked their car in really dense bushes and it being a dark moonless night. Also by the way they started appearing out of the bushes just as I was passing them can only mean they were both sitting on their asses INSIDE the car not out in the bushes. So many things and i've only just started preparing.

Anna, you say you witnessed all these things, how ? I'm not trying to be a smartarse and I do seem to recall you mentioning that your hubby is a solicitor, but seriously how? Do you go to court and observe these proceedings ? I don't imagine your hubby would bore you with stories from work about speeding fines. Do you know the driving record or the exact circumstances of those 2 fellas you mentioned? Maybe the guy that copped the 3 year suspension was classed 'habitual offender' ie. lost his licence more than 2 times before. Maybe he was being a smartass in court or had a criminal history. I've only ever had ONE speeding fine in 15 years of driving and that was in May 2008 (15 over the limit) and a no right turn fine. Other than that, clean. So why would any magistrate try and make my life miserable ? Quite honestly, to me it sounds like you ARE the po-po or are married to a copper. I'm yet to find any evidence whatsoever that magistrates impose heavy penalties for simply taking a matter to court. I do intend to go to a few court hearings and see what sort of punishments the magistrates dish out but thanks for the tip anyway. For the record, yes I've learnt my lesson and no I'm not trying to outsmart the system. It's my understanding that ONLY if I plead NOT GUILTY will I have a chance to actually see the police evidence. For all I know they HAVE NO evidence. Maybe they didn't catch any of it on video due to their car being perpendicular to road and backed up all the way inside the bushes. I just can't see how they could have taken a video or how being parked at a 45 degree angle (their car's rear pretty much climbed a wall at 45deg angle) i would fall within their own guidelines for using LIDAR.

straight from a NSW traffic laywers mouth (http://www.mccofnsw.org.au/a/241.html): Q) Is there a risk of taking an offence to court and having the penalty increased? That is a risk in some cases, though by and large I have never seen penalties increased. The courts are pretty good that way. and .. http://trafficlaw.com.au/legal.advice.html 14. If I plead not guilty, won't I just make the police and the Magistrate angry and make matters worse? No. Where licence loss is mandatory, pleading guilty will not improve things at all. Unless there is a good chance of going to prison, it can't get much worse. The police are cool and never get angry with people who plead not guilty. Magistrates preside over defended cases almost every day and seem to cope with the stress fairly well.

The max financial fine the magistrate can give me is $2200 which is f**k all more than the $1744 I'd have to pay anyway. So where do you get YOUR information from ? Sure if you think you're a sickunt and can go to court and blame everyone and be an arrogant prick about it and cuss at the popop and judge, I can see how the magistrate might impose a higher fine/suspension. But their job is to be objective not to side with police from the get go and dish out unreasonable punishments to otherwise law abiding citizens. It's not like I'm a "habitual offender" or like I have a criminal history. If the magistrate is an absolute twat there's always automatic appeal to higher courts which can roll back the suspension/fine to the original if they find the magistrate was unreasonable. So once again, where do you get your info from ? I haven't been living in a cave and it's the same 'urban myth' I've heard from many people, none of which ever had ANY dealings with these matters whatsoever eg. my dad, my brother all of whome just reckon "please guilty or they're gonna rip you a new one" like the system is set up to f**k with normal people who find themselves in a difficult situation.

thanks for all the tips guys .. I've given up on that aussiespeedingfines.com crap as it's just that crap and i've been reading http://trafficlaw.com.au/ which is a traffic barrister and all his stuff sounds way more plausible etc From what I've gathered so far there is no point in trying to try and DEFEND myself as the chances are 99% I will be found guilty and cop the fine and suspension as it was + court costs. From what I've read it's best to try and find an issue with prosecution's case/evidence/footage etc and poke a hole in it just big enough to create reasonable doubt and the magistrate can dismiss the case. I'd be interested to know where you read about the ineffectivness of radars in measuring speed accurately during lane changes, with cars around etc. I will need to collect as much of this information, not from kook sites but legitimate sources, in order to prepare my case. I will be sending in my penalty notice tommorow and requesting a court date ..that way I will atleast receive a summons and charges from police and know exactly what I'm up against. Is there any way to get the 'brief of evidence' before they present it to the cort? Can I adjourn the case (repping myself btw) after seeing/requesting a copy of the brief of evidence presented by the police prosecutor ?? Also what's with all the people saying I'd cop a longer suspension/bigger fine if I plead not guilty and am found guilty ? From reading trafficlaw.com.au (written by a melbourne traffic barrister) the magistrates aren't venguful mofos and won't try and 'teach me a lesson' for taking the matter to court. According to that guy the most likely outcome if pleading not guilty (and losing) is simply additional court costs which are < $100.

hm yeah I seem to recall reading the same but I'm not sure if that was merely in reference to their sale OR use (or both). Some of these things are crazy accurate and can sniff out any radar operation with a couple of Kms down the road...I'm sure if they were legal they'd be a standard factory option by now Quick question ...am I allowed to drive the car on a track/skidpan with no drivers licence?

are they legal to use in nsw? would definately be a worthwhile investment when I get my license back

spoke to station .. cop def recorded 142kmh and what I thought was 115km/h apparently says "over 45 kmh" Ah well, back to the drawing board.

read the rest mate .. i said I'm not gonna drive until i'm sure I'm allowed to. Does anyone know if it's a bad idea trying to contact the constable who issued the penalty notice? I just want to ask him why he wrote 115/kmh yet claimed I was doing 142 and suspended my license when 115kmh would have only been a fine and some points..

yeh I really don't need a lecture mate .. I was overtaking morons who were driving UNDER the speed limit in the right hand lane for like 3 Kms. I only overtook them when they finally decided to merge left. Gave it a quick stab to put them behind me so I don't have to deal with THEIR dangerous driving. I went back to left lane as soon as it was safe and dropped to 90. And yes I know that spot well I even looked at it 10 mins prior going in the other direction but couldn't see them because they'd backed up their car up all the way in to the bushes. Either way, penalty notice says 115 km/h ..which is what I thought I did and will argue that in court. If that turns out to be correct, they've confiscated/suspended my license for no good reason and I might just seek compensation when it's all done and dusted. Interesting times ahead.

yeh my dad drove back (and managed to stall the car just infront of their house.. wtf? well done dad) Anyway, I'm definately not going to drive until I hear otherwise from a court. Strange thing is, my radar/lidar penalty notice has (from what I can read) 115 km/h scribbled under the "title of offence / exceed speed (radar/lidar)" which is what I thought I was doing (and which is not a suspension or $1744) even though they claimed I was doing 142kmh. Maybe the officer got confused and wrote what I said ... if that's the case, this is definately one technicality I could pursue in court and keep my licence and just pay $338

yeah other cars too..no idea where their radar was pointing. Been reading bits and pieces on the net from that ebook ..doesn't look like a bunch of bs at all. You just gotta have the patience and play their game, all within the law. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if my license is REALLY automatically suspended now given that 1) the cop confiscated it 2) I refused to sign the suspension letter. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't see why I couldn't just rock up to RTA tommorow and ask them for a new copy. My understanding is I have 28 days to appeal the matter in court so how can my license be already suspended? They don't "unsuspend" your license if you go to court, they simply dismiss the case (that's my understanding anyway) - so if the above is true, my license is not really suspended at all, just confiscated. Hmm?

yeah .. but the radar didn't show me my car and me behind the wheel .. only a number, so off to court I go. I'm obviously gonna prepare and not just rock up and rant at the judge and cop a worse punishment..bit of a pita but i've got plenty of spare time, PLEEEENTY.

if the author paid a fine then the whole thing is a crock of shit edit: more about that here http://www.aussiespeedingfines.com/pages/R...ike-Palmer.html

change my coil packs and spark plugs today so I thought I'd go with my dad (who was helping out) for a little run down on the motorway to see how the car behaves. Long story short, got done for speeding (142 in 90 zone) Cop confiscated my license told me I'm suspended for 6 months and gave me a $1744 fine. I refused to sign the suspension notice because I wasn't certain what I'm signing (they didnt seem to have much of an issue with that). Anyway, before all the keyboard warriors start lighting their flame throwers... I'm pushing 30yo and this is my 2nd speeding fine ever. I don't hoon on suburban roads and so on and so forth. The reason for speeding ..well, I was stuck behind these 2 idiots on the motorway driving 80 in the right hand lane when the limit is 90. When they finally decided to back into left lane I gave it a bit of a stab .. changed back to left lane when it was safe (5-10 sec later) and dropped back down to 90kmh. But at this point I'd already passed the coppers who were hiding under an overpass bridge with their car backed up all the way inside the bushes.. So I'm just wondering if anyone's had a real experience using the http://www.aussiespeedingfines.com ebook to challenge the fine (I dont reckon I was doing anywhere near 143kmh and neither does my dad) ? I will probably buy it anyway just thought I might ask to see if anyone else did already and if it really helped. there's no way I can afford that fine or to be off the road for 6 months ..and before any hero tells me to "do the crime do the time" let me just say, go choke on a dick. I know I've gone over the limit which is something i RARELY do and never in suburbia/city but I'm not going to just bend over and take it when there's possibility of getting a reduced fine/no suspension if I fight it out in court (well prepared that is)

i'm out ..lost my license

in regards to groups .. when's that going to be decided / organized? Or are we simply going to be assigned to groups as we arrive in Windsor?? Anything I can do to help ? (preferrably something involving lesbians and beer .. but seriously, if there is let me know)

I'm so scared now I might just pull out both the idler and tensioner bolts and run without them

I honestly dont see the point especially considering the costs IF its not enclosed ..might as well put a $100 apexi pod in there if it's just gonna be sucking in hot engine bay air. Is this at BelGarage by any chance??