Fine Help

[d0p3y]

Hi Guys,

The other night I was pulled over by a PMS'ing troll who decided to make my life difficult. Anyways, I copped a $300 3 point fine for "Proceeding through a red light" which I indeed did not.

As the story goes, I had pulled out of a service station driveway approx 5m away from the intersection line. I looked left (direction of the lights) they were green, Looked right (direction of the traffic) looked left again as I was taking off from the driveway and the lights went orange as I hit the road. I proceeded through the orange light as I didn't feel I had time to stop in time as I'd just put the pedal down to the floor to try and beat the oncoming traffic and by the time I'd shifted to the brake I would have ABS'd it and most likely landed in the middle of the intersection. Not to mention braking like that is a good way to cause rear enders.

I was completely polite to the police officer. I explained that I did not feel I had time to stop, I had just pulled out of the driveway, and that I thought it would be a bad idea to SLAM on my brakes for the orange light. I told her it was my understanding that if you cannot stop in time for an orange light you are to proceed through it.

A few points;

1. The police car would have been a good 100m back in the traffic and I do not believe they had a clear view of the intersection as they claim.

2. The light was ORANGE when I was in the middle of the intersection, it went red as I passed over the end of intersection line. They claim the light was red when I proceeded into the intersection. I had a passenger as whitness to this.

Does anyone have any pointers as to how I can get out of this?

I have never been pulled over before in my life and I did NOT proceed through a red light as they claim. If I had run a red light, or I was indeed speeding or something I'd be happy to cop it sweet but there's no way in hell I'm taking this lying down when the fine is for something I did not do!

Help appreciated

Ryan

[Alien]

write an appeal with exact same statement as you provded here and send it out. If that doesnt work, take it to court. Also, they have no proof, so she is pretty stupid to actually fine you, especially since u didnt confirm doing the offence. Also, you haven't had any previous offences, so it should be safe to say even a letter may get you out of it. Damn dyke cops.

[wrxhoon]

Unless you are prepared to go to court and spens a lot of $ just pay the fine . If you want to go to court and have a spare few thousand $ let me know and i'll put you on the best traffic lawyer you can get .

[Alien]

just send an appealing letter I recon you've got a good chance with that option

[silver gts-t]

Unless you are prepared to go to court and spens a lot of $ just pay the fine . If you want to go to court and have a spare few thousand $ let me know and i'll put you on the best traffic lawyer you can get .

u dont need a lawyer..

and what big bucks?? you go there pay for the courts time, plead your case and see how u go..

i think you should take it to court, write down what u want to say and read over it a couple times before you go.

any adult that can plead his case without a lawyer

[godzl1975]

if its your first offence then mostly likely be able to get off on it. write a letter in and explain details etc..that your first offence etc....dont know if this applies as the same as speeding fines do. anyone?

[godzl1975]

u dont need a lawyer..

and what big bucks?? you go there pay for the courts time, plead your case and see how u go..

with a lawyer that knows the legal jargon/technicalities...more likely to get off..than representing yourself, think thats what wrxhoon meant?

[silver gts-t]

with a lawyer that knows the legal jargon/technicalities...more likely to get off..than representing yourself, think thats what wrxhoon meant?

depends on the case..

in this circumstance i would go alone, ive been to court myself and another time i helped a mate. got what we came for on both occasions..

its only local court

im just speaking from personal experience

[godzl1975]

depends on the case..

in this circumstance i would go alone, ive been to court myself and another time i helped a mate. got what we came for on both occasions..

its only local court

im just speaking from personal experience

oh ok kool....id try writing a letter first as its your first offence if it is...more than likely to get off. Good luck anyways

[wrxhoon]

u dont need a lawyer..

and what big bucks?? you go there pay for the courts time, plead your case and see how u go..

i think you should take it to court, write down what u want to say and read over it a couple times before you go.

any adult that can plead his case without a lawyer

No you don't need a lawyer you can represent yourself but if you want to win you do need experts.

I've been there and done that both representing myself and with experts .

Don't forget its the cops word againiest his and i know who the magistrate will believe . You are correct in saying he has nothing to loose just his time and if he looses pays the fine and court costs ( very little about 50-60$).

If it 's his first offence and he has been driving for 10 years he will get off without going to court.

[Sinful]

Did she write down her rank and cop number on the fine if so you could put a complaint in about her and tell them the story and in the past we have had everything drop as they didnt have any proof.....

This has helped when dealing with cops that have it in for you...

Just my 2 cents but I wouldnt go down without a fight if you feel so strongly that you were doing the right thing

[Xizor]

Letters dont do jack shit unless there is some loop hole or ridiculous circumstances or you have a perfectly spotless record for atleast 10 years. Trust me. I've written in twice, once for being booked for f**king fog lights when it had been raining and there was patches of fog about and the f**king cock sucker cop went ballistic at me and i was 100% respectful the whole time. Wanker. Makes it worse i wasnt even sure how to turn them off/on it wasnt intentional it was a brand new XR6 several years ago. Hope that *&% rots in hell.

Go to court, dress respectfully, and explain exactly what happened. It is a massive advantage to take a lawyer but really unless your fighting to keep your licence i wouldnt bother. But if you want to fight it absolutely go to court. I was in a car with 3 other people and we got RBT'd by the cops, all pissed as a fiddle and the driver decided to try and get home instead of just moving the car somewhere quiet. I cant remember what he blew, but it was enough for automatic loss of licence - i did the test aswell to see if i could drive to move the car. He does handle his grog really well like myself so was reasonably safe to drive considering it was 3am on a week day but thats no excuse for being stupid and anyway he went to court, a mate's dad is a barrister or something and went with him, he got off thankfully did have a good record and representation and got to keep his licence and just has to keep a clean slate for 1 year or something and thats it. So the law can be fare sometimes.

Edited July 6, 2006 by Xizor

[d0p3y]

It doesn't appear to have her name on there, just her signature. I'd definately like to raise a complaint as even my mate in the passenger seat commented how she was extremely rude.

I'm not going down without a fight because I feel it's unfair to ream me in the ass like this when I honestly wasn't attempting to do anything wrong. If this goes ahead that means I need to try and last 12 months on 4 points (stuck on green P's cause I was lazy) which sucks.

Oh well shit happens I guess.. damned if you do damned if you don't. Seems my tactic of selling my RX7 and getting a slow family sedan and driving responsibly to get through my P's without a fine has failed me...

[Sinful]

It doesn't appear to have her name on there, just her signature. I'd definately like to raise a complaint as even my mate in the passenger seat commented how she was extremely rude.

I'm not going down without a fight because I feel it's unfair to ream me in the ass like this when I honestly wasn't attempting to do anything wrong. If this goes ahead that means I need to try and last 12 months on 4 points (stuck on green P's cause I was lazy) which sucks.

Oh well shit happens I guess.. damned if you do damned if you don't. Seems my tactic of selling my RX7 and getting a slow family sedan and driving responsibly to get through my P's without a fine has failed me...

It seriously happen to everyone we will all come across a stupid cop and get reamed but next time always get there badge number they have to give it to you if you ask and her name they cant refuse you...

I hope you find a way to get it sorted out im sure you can get away with 4 points for 12 months it will go so quickly....

Good Luck

[lastlineofdefence]

Hi Guys,

The other night I was pulled over by a PMS'ing troll who decided to make my life difficult. Anyways, I copped a $300 3 point fine for "Proceeding through a red light" which I indeed did not.

As the story goes, I had pulled out of a service station driveway approx 5m away from the intersection line. I looked left (direction of the lights) they were green, Looked right (direction of the traffic) looked left again as I was taking off from the driveway and the lights went orange as I hit the road. I proceeded through the orange light as I didn't feel I had time to stop in time as I'd just put the pedal down to the floor to try and beat the oncoming traffic and by the time I'd shifted to the brake I would have ABS'd it and most likely landed in the middle of the intersection. Not to mention braking like that is a good way to cause rear enders.

I was completely polite to the police officer. I explained that I did not feel I had time to stop, I had just pulled out of the driveway, and that I thought it would be a bad idea to SLAM on my brakes for the orange light. I told her it was my understanding that if you cannot stop in time for an orange light you are to proceed through it.

A few points;

1. The police car would have been a good 100m back in the traffic and I do not believe they had a clear view of the intersection as they claim.

2. The light was ORANGE when I was in the middle of the intersection, it went red as I passed over the end of intersection line. They claim the light was red when I proceeded into the intersection. I had a passenger as whitness to this.

Does anyone have any pointers as to how I can get out of this?

I have never been pulled over before in my life and I did NOT proceed through a red light as they claim. If I had run a red light, or I was indeed speeding or something I'd be happy to cop it sweet but there's no way in hell I'm taking this lying down when the fine is for something I did not do!

Help appreciated

Ryan

turn the tin over, sign it and send it to the ipb for a court date. too easy.

[godzl1975]

having a mates friends dad as a barrister helps too! oh the letter applies if u have been driving for a bit and since your on your p's dont think that would help you. sorry. good luck!

the badge number should have been written on the fine that they gave you??

[Beer Baron]

mate you are on your P's driving some shit box, you floored it out of a driveway (your own words) then couldn't brake in time for a red light. they will eat you for breakfast unfortunately. just pay the fine and move on. forget about it, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't mean sh1t. go to court if you must but be prepared to loose, if you win good for you, but you have still wasted at least 1 day. 1 day of my time is worth $300 to me. so on balance you are not much better off, just saved a few points.

[d0p3y]

Turns out my aunt who's a paralegal is good friends with the traffic offence expert in their office and he's extremely good at getting P platers out of things. He's offered to help me out with the matter so I'll keep yas posted. Trying the letter tactic first, doubt I'll bother with court.

[Beer Baron]

well that could be a beacon of hope. there is a chance you can get off, but i would expect failure and be pleasantly surprised with success.

[Moanie]

mate you are on your P's driving some shit box, you floored it out of a driveway (your own words) then couldn't brake in time for a red light. they will eat you for breakfast unfortunately. just pay the fine and move on. forget about it, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't mean sh1t. go to court if you must but be prepared to loose, if you win good for you, but you have still wasted at least 1 day. 1 day of my time is worth $300 to me. so on balance you are not much better off, just saved a few points.

my thoughts exactly richi!

Plus, I am not sure how you can pull out of a driveway and then accelerate hard enough to not be able to stop in time for an intersection that is 5m away!! you must have been flooring it, if it meant having to slam on your brakes hard enough to be a danger to those behind you!! if you were not accelerating that hard, and were just slowly moving along, then i think it likely you would have got the intersection about the time the light turned red!