neil248

Out of interest how many of you have been caught speeding within a short period of arriving in Australia especially if you had a clean UK licence?
I am pretty sure I have been caught by one of the four wheel drives with the camera in the rear facing snorkel. On the one hand if you drive within the limit you can guarantee there will be a large four wheel drive with bull bars 4 inches from your rear bumper that will not not stop when you do and if you do speed you will certainly be caught at some point.
We are finding Australian driving rather disconcerting compared to our small English town.
I do appreciate that the limits are there and if you break them you pay the price.

wmoore

But really that's his problem not yours. I'm the other way around - I've been caught speeding several times in the UK (though not for quite some time). I always seemed to be in a rush to be somewhere. Here I'm a lot more chilled and rarely step over the speed limit

Mrs Jackaroo

Same with me. If some idiot is trying to nudge me faster (which is usually the case!) I just make sure I stick to the correct speed limit and ignore the idiot! Having said that the bloody limits change every 100 yards so its a bit difficult to keep on track sometimes!!

neil248

Unfortunateley it was our problem when the 4 wheel drive mentioned hit us from behind when we stopped at traffic lights, especially as our daughters were in the car. Maybe we have become more jumpy than we should be.

Any way having children in the car is even more reason not to speed so the chilled approach is probably best.

neil248

Agree with the changing limits which is why I was caught. Again no defence if you are paying attention.

wengerboy

If I had a dollar for every P plated commondore that`s tailgated me
when they do I just pull to the kerb and wave em on then the mrs screams at me for letting em past
back to topic 8 months thus far no fine (fingers crossed)

vb2

clean licence here for 12 years, got caught within two weeks of being here, got six month ban, $700 dollar fine and no appeal process to boot!!!
ouch!!
regards
vb2

young_lad

10 years driving in the UK without any points - already got 'more than one' point on the licence in just over 2 years here in Oz.

The worst drivers I've seen here are the ones that are under the speed limit - but because they're not exeeding the limit they seem to be immune to be stopped by police.

If the emphasis was placed on stopping dangerous driving rather than just those speeding maybe the road deaths per capita wouldn't be twice that of the UK.

Paul&Nic

I was a bit naughty with speeding in both countries, but yeah got caught in the first few weeks over here.

Annoying bit was I gone done for doing 119 on the motorway with a 110 speed limit. When I asked the policeman about the 10% allowance for speedo inaccuracy he burst out laughing ...

I must admit I don't go over 110 on the motorway now, just like everyone else! ...

wmoore

Excellent point. It's the easy catch / easy prosecute isn't it? Catch someone at 105 in a 100 zone and the boy in blue can be judge, jury and executioner. It's all black and white, nice and simple. Add one to his stats

To prosecute someone for dangerous or careless driving takes lots of time and effort (read: money) and not worth the effort unless someone actually got hurt.

willkerr

Those allowances are always a point of conjucture and it's difficult I know. You have to keep in mind that the 10% could have been on top of the 119 so you could have been doing 131 as far as the boys in blue were concerned.

Been here a year and not been stopped yet for speeding (fingers crossed) but asked to do a RBT several times over Bank Holidays when in the UK I was never stopped to do a RBT but got papped once .....

NKSK version 2

Clean for 20 years in the UK. 6 points in 10 months here.

neil248

You have my sympathy, 40 kph over is a fair cop but I can see how easy it would be to lose your licence without driving like a total prat.

The mobile cameras seem to be positioned to catch out and I mean catch out normal every day drivers rather than any effort being made to clamp down on anti social and dangerous driving. Some peoples antics are clearly shown by the burnt rubber you see on the roads in every suburb.

We are currently looking for a house and you certainly would not buy in some streets where there are circle marks from burn outs by the hoons.

The law needs to be obeyed but it does seem a lottery where a usually responsible driver can lose their licence very easily and streetwise hooligans get away with it.

mand8002

I count myself lucky as I have twice passed the speed traps doing slightly over the limie (64 in a 60 and 75 in a 70) and have not received a fine or anything. I do stick to the limit as much as possible but have odd lapses as I am sure plenty others do. Not sure how long my luck will last.

vb2

I totally agree with you, however in our case, we have been driving for 19 years, the ONLY time we sped was the time we were caught!!!! bloody typical i know, even then we didnt have any choice but to speed as an inconsiderate juganaut driver was about to cut us up, so it was either get out of there quick or be squished!! either way we ended up squished!!
however, we are one of those drivers that do stay under the speed limit (honest) and i know how infuriating it can be for people, stuck behind us especially, but people shouldnt be penalised for obeying the law, if they were massively slow then yes, but we always stick to approx 5 kpm under the speed limit just to be sure, which can be difficult when you have some huge lorry up your backside!!!!
its a funny old world the wrong people always get penalised and the muppets get away with murder - but there ya go, do you take the risk or not, we did and look what happened!!!!!
a lesson for us all
regards
vb2