Jump to content
SAU Community

Ever Fought A Speeding Fine In Victoria? Here's My Day In Court:


Recommended Posts

I've had Police lie in court as well mate, on more than one occasion - It's nothing new and the GOR Police officers are well known for it.

I've actually been to Geelong Courts before, and won my case against the old duck from Lorne Police station who was lying, breaking protocol and his "star witness" didn't show in 2 occasions.

It's just how the system is unfortunately. Police are sworn to uphold the law, yet push comes to shove they are forced to be totally dishonest by prosecutors and similar as part of their job. It's a broken system that will never change. When you see the attitude the top brass display, you can understand why pretty easily.

Next time just get a lawyer, never have to stress then. (I've found court rooms to be largely a joke, no pressure, i just sit back and try not to laugh at the absurdity that is the Officer statements lies).

  • Replies 44
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I'm no lawyer but I did study law for a while and remember a case I looked at where a man was fined for speeding on his motorbike in exactly the same fashion - an officer trailing behind and using their speedo as a means for measuring the biker's speed. To cut a long story short, the case ended up in court where the magistrate dismissed the fine on the grounds that using a car's speedo as a device to ACCURTELY measure speed was impermissible - regardless of whether or not a certificate of calibration had been obtained. Had you brought this case up in court as precedent I'm confident the outcome of your case would have been different. The judiciary here in Australia is very big on this idea of 'precedent', which is basically where a judge makes a ruling in a similar/almost identical case which can be used as a reference for rulings in later cases.

I'm no lawyer but I did study law for a while and remember a case I looked at where a man was fined for speeding on his motorbike in exactly the same fashion - an officer trailing behind and using their speedo as a means for measuring the biker's speed. To cut a long story short, the case ended up in court where the magistrate dismissed the fine on the grounds that using a car's speedo as a device to ACCURTELY measure speed was impermissible - regardless of whether or not a certificate of calibration had been obtained. Had you brought this case up in court as precedent I'm confident the outcome of your case would have been different. The judiciary here in Australia is very big on this idea of 'precedent', which is basically where a judge makes a ruling in a similar/almost identical case which can be used as a reference for rulings in later cases.

Police are recognised estimators of speed. So all they need is the distance :)

There would've been more to that case anyway by the sound of it.

Speedo can be a supplementary item so it's not really grounds to fight based on that as you simply go on time/distance which is quite easy to work out. I've had that tried on me before as well (but failed due to distance not being enough, where they were in relation to myself etc etc).

I appreciate all the extra info and experiences.

Birds has possibly hit the nail on the head; with the local gov't simply taking the money instead of the state. But here's another angle my lawyer (Scott from speed fine consults) suggested.

The word 'precedent' came up as Mike stated.

If this magistrate had dismissed the charge outright he would have set a precedent for anybody else here in Victoria. and word gets around about this kind of stuff; I believe we're pushing 300 views on this story alone.

There is also the fact that i directly attacked the police's evidence and therefore their integrity. They're all mates in that court room and they're in there all the time with each other. I'm sure he didn't appreciate the whacks i was taking at "his" frizzy haired prosecution.

And then; at the end of the day he didn't believe me. He said that the prosecutors evidence stands; that i had wasted his time and that i'd taken 2 coppers off the street.

Just before me There had been about 3 other cases of young driver idiots were talking a load of garbage and they hadn't read the police report or made a defense. They hadn't cleaned up for court; they were irritating; piss poor; saying all the wrong things; then irrelevant things and they took ages. There was one bloke that wanted to be let off because a 60 sign noway near where he was caught had a bush in front of it.

And he went to town on these people. He absolutely destroyed them. He Charged them court costs and gave them convictions for their permenant records.

So I'm standing there being crucified; he's said i've wasted his time and he's about to destroy me too.... Except then he didn't.

Why? No court costs; no conviction; the donation was less than the fine.

Scott said; if he really truly thought I had wasted his time i would have copped all that.... but he didn't... This means that in some way the bloke

actually DID believe me but has let me go in such a way that it doesn't 'set a precedent'

"Going against the general grain of Victoria" is what he said.

Nismoid - interesting you've been there too... so the great ocean road cops have a reputation do they?

additionally with the speedo thing; they're meant to have a balinger module sat on top of the dash; these guys have just used the holden digital one in their cluster!

Final thing: argh... they were both saying that there were no more than ten meters from the front bike to the last... there were four of us. How f**king suicidal would you have to be to be within two and a half meters of each other going (allegedly) 75!!!!????

I'd say it's a loss, even though you didn't get any points, you still had to pay a fine and spent a day in court not working.

It's absolute B.S that they can get away with lying under oath! TBH i have no respect at all for the police, they are all crooked sons of bitches who basically f**ked my life up at a young age to save their own jobs. Dogs of the highest order

But here's another angle my lawyer (Scott from speed fine consults) suggested.

The word 'precedent' came up as Mike stated.

If this magistrate had dismissed the charge outright he would have set a precedent for anybody else here in Victoria. and word gets around about this kind of stuff; I believe we're pushing 300 views on this story alone.

You're right word does get around but how many people out there seek legal advice before contesting such fines and are aware of how to use our legal system to their advantage? Aside from being aware of the fact that precedent does exist and can be used, it would only be a matter or proving the irrefutable similarities between the two cases to be able to use the precedent.

Police are recognised estimators of speed. So all they need is the distance :)

I don't know quite what you mean by this. Estimation of speed is a very subjective measure and I don't think it would stand up in court in conjunction with a regular speedo reading, let alone as evidence on its own. All the variables that are used to define speed/velocity can hugely differ between individuals.

It means exactly what i said - they are recognised as being estimators of speed, and this is recognised by the courts.

rate x time = distance

There is no "differing" on the above at all, you can work out pretty quickly/easily with excellent accuracy.

It means exactly what i said - they are recognised as being estimators of speed, and this is recognised by the courts.

rate x time = distance

There is no "differing" on the above at all, you can work out pretty quickly/easily with excellent accuracy.

This. It's one of the reasona why undercovers, HP etc tail cars for a distance of time before pulling them over. Plus, anyone with a basic understanding of maths can work it out. It's more accurate than what a lot of people assume.

Edited by gtsttrk

Yep, and the further back they are, the more accurate the reading is going to be. (Also increases the chance that you'll keep speeding.... Most people would back off if a late model commodore starts booting it to catch up to them)

Think you have to tell anyone you're recording them if you're planning on using it as evidence. Thus telemarketers tell you the convo is being recorded and if you say you don't want it to be recorded they have to stop the call.

Think you have to tell anyone you're recording them if you're planning on using it as evidence. Thus telemarketers tell you the convo is being recorded and if you say you don't want it to be recorded they have to stop the call.

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/topic/293509-recording-police-conversations/

so we dont have to mention anything about recording.

well this is more to back myself up when i'm accused of speeding when i wasn't or accused of going faster than i actually was.

since dad will pay for it. lol.

It means exactly what i said - they are recognised as being estimators of speed, and this is recognised by the courts.

rate x time = distance

There is no "differing" on the above at all, you can work out pretty quickly/easily with excellent accuracy.

I would love to see a legal excerpt substantiating this. The only case in which an officer's estimation could potentially be used as evidence would be one where excessive speed was clearly evident, aferall, who can honestly look at a moving car and say "yes, this car should be going 100 kmh but it is in fact going 105kmh and therefore the driver must be fined"?

Yeah I got done in the same way as well, partially due to my own ignorance of the speed limit on Bulleen road (no excuse).

Was tailed for probably 300-400m before being pulled over. Plus, on the infringement notice doesn't it say Alleged/approximate speed?

Though the alleged would be there in case of a court case I presume. Assumption of innocence FTW.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Latest Posts

    • AHHHH gotchaa, I'll do that once I am home again. I tried doing the harness with the multimeter but it seems the car needed a jump, there was no power when it was in the "ON" position. Not sure if I should use car battery jump starter or if its because the stuff that has been disconnect the car just does send power.
    • As far as I can tell I have everything properly set in the Haltech software for engine size, injector data, all sensors seem to be reporting proper numbers.  If I change any injector details it doesnt run right.    Changing the base map is having the biggest change in response, im not sure how people are saying it doesnt really matter.  I'm guessing under normal conditions the ECU is able to self adjust and keep everything smooth.   Right now my best performance is happening by lowering the base map just enough to where the ECU us doing short term cut of about 45% to reach the target Lambda of 14.7.  That way when I start putting load on it still has high enough fuel map to not be so lean.  After 2500 rpm I raised the base map to what would be really rich at no load, but still helps with the lean spots on load.  I figure I don't have much reason to be above 2500rpm with no load.  When watching other videos it seems their target is reached much faster than mine.  Mine takes forever to adjust and reach the target. My next few days will be spent making sure timing is good, it was running fine before doing the ECU and DBW swap, but want to verify.  I'll also probably swap in the new injectors I bought as well as a walbro 255 pump.  
    • It would be different if the sealant hadn't started to peel up with gaps in the glue about ~6cm and bigger in some areas. I would much prefer not having to do the work take them off the car . However, the filler the owner put in the roof rack mount cavities has shrunk and begun to crack on the rail delete panels. I cant trust that to hold off moisture ingress especially where I live. Not only that but I have faded paint on as well as on either side of these panels, so they would need to come off to give the roofline a proper respray. My goal is to get in there and put a healthy amount of epoxy instead of panel filler/bog and potentially skin with carbon fiber. I have 2 spare rolls from an old motorcycle fairing project from a few years back and I think it'd be a nice touch on a black stag.  I've seen some threads where people replace their roof rack delete with a welded in sheet metal part. But has anyone re-worked the roof rails themselves? It seems like there is a lot of volume there to add in some threads and maybe a keyway for a quick(er) release roof rack system. Not afraid to mill something out if I have to. It would be cool to have a cross bar only setup. That way I can keep the sleek roofline that would accept a couple bolts to gain back that extra utility  3D print some snazzy covers to hide the threaded section to be thorough and keep things covered when not using the rack. 
    • Probably not. A workshop grade scantool is my go to for proper Consult interrogation. Any workshop grade tool should do it. Just go to a workshop.
    • In my head it does make sense to be a fuel problem since that is what I touched when cleaning the system. When I was testing with the fuel pressure gauge, the pressure was constantly 2.5 bar with the FPR vacuum removed. When stalling, the pressure was going up to 3.0 bar (which is how it should be on ignition).
×
×
  • Create New...