Speeding fines in QLD - request for mercy letter??

[bigdog1971]

OK Today upon return from the Gold Coast after a nice little family holiday, the wife and I + kids were travelling along the Logan Motorway and a Policeman jumps out onto the road infront of me and directs me to pull over. I was doing 100 km/hr with my cruise control set in the Land Rover Disco and this fool places himself at the mercy of my brakes.. :eek:

Anyway the story goes a little like this, I was alone in the traffic flow and had been driving for some time at 100km/hr (cruise set) I did not observe the reducing speed sign indicating 80km/hr and did not see the need for any decrease in speed, I think the speed drop was because of a merging lane :mad: The trap was about 500 meters after the 80kmhr sign I think.

The Mr Plod asks the standard Questions - Did I know the speed limit (my reponse was that I assume now the limit was 80 hence the reason we are now talking face to face), did I know how fast I was travelling (yes was my response my cruise was set methodicaly by me for 100km/hr), did I have any reason to speed? (no). He then proceeded to show me the gun indicating 105!! :confused:

End result, I drive away with 4 less demirits and $250 fine.

My question is, have any QLD'rs ever written, succesfully, to the Enforcment agency and requested a lesser fine.

I know the option of having the matter dealt with in a Court of Revenue Raising,,,,, sorry "Law" exsists, but I do not wish to end having to pay court costs as well.
If I jump into my best letter writing skills can I get this dealt with before court.

I feel that the fact that I was travelling at 100 (I assume the reading of 105 is the inacuacy of the Rover) indicates that I thought the limit was 100km/hr (this fact along does not excuse my speed, however lends to the fact that I was not intentionaly speeding.
I had no other traffic around me to gauge my speed from, had others been travelling beside me at 80 I would have soon been alerted to the fact.
My last offence was 2 years ago 113 in a 100... :mad:

What are my chances guys/gals
:deal:

[markone2]

Sorry :( ..but this reads like a repeat of my 1st speeding ticket..speed alert set at 110 and radar gun reading 120 :mad: .....end result after questioning the fact..double the fine.....I sincerely hope you have more luck than I did.

[pagey]

I don't like your chances either.. sorry. the argument being that you "obviously" were not paying due attention (probably too busy looking for white 4WD's in the bushes or ensuring you are not more than 3km over the limit!!) therefore missing the speed notification - a crock I know but unfortunately my guess would be you don't have much hope

I also had an encounter on Sunday with one of the Gold Coasts finest when we took the GT40 out for a spin... long story.. resulting in me biting my tongue & abusing the (mechanically) uneducated individual under my breath - and police wonder why people have diminished respect for them ..?

[VooDoo]

I took my last 2 to court and had both dismissed. Your history is only taken into account when sentancing not when assigning innocence or guilt. Also note that the courts cannot change the fine at all. They will however add court costs.

In the first case i won, i'd just changed drivers (i was asleep beforehand) and was doing 110 as that was the limit when i'd been driving before. As i'd not seen a sign nor did i know the road i was done for 112 in a 100 zone. Judge accepted this and was let off. (paid $67 in costs, no demerit)

The second one was 100 in a 80 zone. Officer took a lazer reading on a corner and within 100mtrs of the 100 sign (going from 60 to a 100 zone). Judge accepted i was accelerating to merge into 100k/hr traffic and to not speed up could have been more dangerous then doing 60 at that point.

I'll let you know how the 3rd one goes (got it coming back from Sydney) 100 in a 80 zone. Lots of roadworks, lots of signs covered, some fallen over, 6 speed changes in 1k. I never saw the sign to drop back to 80 (even after driving back to look)

[pagey]

Excellent work Stu.. light @ the end of the tunnel.

This sort of thing does make a good case for having a camera handy to capture the contributing environmental factors.

[myles]

Good stuff Voodoo.

To the original poster, was the sign clearly marked or partially covered by branches etc? Deoending on the lane you were in, was the sign able to be read clearly?

As Voodoo indicated, are you able to find out if it changed back to 100 (if it did at all?)

Travelling on your own at least demonstrates you weren't excessively speeding past other cars or overtaking other vehicles that were doing the limit, or placing other motorists in danger.

And the speed you were booked at shows you didn't have the foot planted or were increasing in speed, rather it shows you were 'locked' on a speed limit, that was the speed limit for a long duration of the trip.

With your last offence being more than two years ago (and being very marginal to say the least), that shows some good driving behaviour in that time.

[bigdog1971]

Thanks for the advice guys, today I will give them a call and see how the process works.

regarding the sign?? dont know I never saw it :mad:

[SV8VY]

Good luck and make sure you do your homework.
You can borrow books on traffic law at your Library.
I had a handful of tickets in one instance which took me almost a year in court and a good lawyer.
Cost me allot of $ but worth saving my licence.
Chris Kalpage is the guy to talk to in Sydney.(he advertises in Motor magazine)