legal advice?

[Nuddy989]

Hi all

i received an infringement notice today in the mail and well... I want to fight it and just wondering what experience you've all had in the past.

some details.. 126 in an 80 zone..... (i don't even believe I was going this fast I would of said 100 at tops) 8 demerits and $933, I don't mind the money more so the loss of license for 6 months... I did not make this thread to get flamed at for speeding so please if that's all you're going to comment on, leave your comments somewhere else... it was on a straight road with a medium strip and no way of turning into my lane or entering traffic, no residential properties or driveways on to the road, so yes even though I was speeding I was only putting myself in harm by doing so.

when I got flashed on the night i went down the round about some kilometer down the road and came back the other way and pulled over to take photos of the camera so I could get it's position and the fact that there was no "speed camera in use" sign. while taking photos of it the camera flashed at another car on the other side of the road going in the opposite direction so I would assume it would take photos of both lanes of traffic.

First things first, there is a another car in the picture it took of me and you can see the other cars license plate ( on the other side of the median strip, coming the other way) i've already established it can take photos of cars coming the other way, can I ask them to prove that it was my car doing the speed and not them?

The other thing is I want to ask them to prove to me that the speed camera was in a council approved location, can I ask for this information? (I have photo graphic proof of where the car was located so more so just want to find out if it was parked in a council approved area)

I've tried asking legal advice but everyone wants to pay like $300 + dollars to answer those two questions, perhaps someone here has been in a similar situation

any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Sabbath']

If you want to fight it. Get a lawyer. All you've done is ask questions of a generic nature and provided us with no graphical demonstation of what you are talking about. You have a lot of circumstantial information. They have a picture taken from a camera car saying you were breaking the law. Can you prove with the information you have that you werent?

 

[Nuddy989]

Well you do have a point there. Obviously I wasn't recording my driving so I cannot prove that I was not breaking the law. By that logic I can sit on a roundabout and film every police vehicle that goes through without indicating and have them fined and demerit points lost for that particular driver...

I want to know if I can ask them if their camera was in a council approved area and I want them to prove to me that it was my car doing the excessive speed and not the other one in the picture. I want to know if I have the rights to this information without paying a laywer 3 or 4 hundred dollars to tell me yes or no. Then I will get someone to represent me in court and fight it, no point paying a lawyer a lot of money to argue for me if they're going to give me the same result as me going into a courtroom say yes sir no sir.

Hope that makes it a little more clearer.

 

[JSTCOZ]

council approved or not. you were over the speed limit and admitted above on this forum you were doing 100 tops... still illegal so straight away your're fighting the fact you did nothing illegal, which you did.

Only thing you can fight is that the car the other way was speeding and not you, that's about it.

 

[Nuddy989]

so I can ring them tomorrow and ask them to prove beyond reasonable doubt that it was me speeding and not the other car?

 

[HamaTime™]

I know you've said you have seeked legal advice. But the problem you have asking people here is that whatever advice you will get in this thread will be either

• Too General
• Biased
• Incorrect
• Not relevant

 

[Tatiana]

You won't win this buddy. The cameras are set to work out which car is the speeding one in dual lane situations. I questioned a cop on this some time ago as I went through a camera and wasn't speeding however a muppet flew past me in the next lane triggering the camera. I was concerned I might get done for something I didn't do. That's when I found out how it works, so no, you won't wriggle out of it. Just to add, I didn't get a fine however the other guy did (I knew him as we were on a car cruise at the time and he told me later he got the fine.)

As for trying to prove it was or wasn't on council land, stop grasping at straws and start researching public transport time tables.

You broke the law, you got caught, time to man up and do the time.

 

[VicCop]

What ClairBear said, these cases are very hard to win.

The only thing I ask is, was anyone with you who can get up in court and give evidence that they saw the speed reading on your car speedometer and say you weren't speeding according to that? You'd also need your cars speedometer tested and that evidence given by the 'expert' witness performing the test that your speedometer is accurate.

There was one case in Victoria successfully won some time ago because they had a passenger in the car who gave evidence in court. Their evidence was that they had clear view of the car speedometer and that it was under the speed limit. That case was against a police officer and their passenger witness was a school student on work experience.

I've watched contested matters against speed cameras. They have their own expert technicians who know these cameras in and out and how they work. They are considered to be experts with many qualifications. The last one I saw, the expert for the prosecution got up and started to rattle off his qualifications when the magistrate stopped him and said to the prosecutor "This court is well aware of this witnesses credentials. There's no need for that. You may proceed". That's because this guy is always in court giving the same evidence about the cameras.

This particular case involved the offending driver getting up and giving his evidence that he wasn't speeding and that he believed it was another car that passed the camera going the other way who was snapped. During cross examination, the prosecution tested his credibility and asked all sorts of questions about how he could be so certain that he was recalling the right day in his mind and what evidence did he have to confirm that.

Defense had their own expert witness get up but he was shot down with one question from the prosecution "How familiar are you with this particular speed detection device?"

His answer: "I'm not familiar with this particular device"

Driver was found guilty because it couldn't be proven that there was anything wrong with the camera, detection device or the site where it was being used.

He walked away with the fine, licence suspension, a nice big legal bill for his barrister and another few grand chucked on top of that for having his own expert witness attend, even if he did end up being completely useless.

 

[Demonica]

Its your word against theirs so got a snowballs chance in hell of fighting it successfully. Either go for a work permit so you can at least drive to and from work or go on a good behaviour period where you will have 2 points for a year and if you screw up its a 1 year licence loss instead of 6 months. Not sure if all states have them though.

*edit work permits are generally for drink drivers so go figure. Good behaviour licence is prob only option.

 

[Jxfwsf]

If i'm not mistaken most camera's take 2 pictures not 1 in a dual lane situation, which ever car has moved the furthest between the 2 pictures is the one going faster... you can try in court but at 46 km's over the limit you might be walking out with more to pay and longer than 6 months to wait.