Speeding points loophole becomes more taxing!

[EDManual]

The Vic Govt at the moment lets people in companies not take points by charging extra. They are changing it to charge even more! (And saying its for saftey...I think it will still happen and rake in more money for the govt...)

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THOUSANDS of rogue drivers will find it harder to "pay to speed" and dodge demerit points when a legal loophole is tightened.

The State Government will tomorrow change the law to introduce tough new penalties for companies that claim they did not know who was behind the wheel of offending vehicles.

More than 210,000 drivers have paid a fine to beat getting demerit points for speeding and red-light offences in the past four years, including at least 27,000 since the loophole was revealed by the Herald Sun in December.

The "pay-to-speed" clause has boosted government coffers by more than $151 million since July, 2008.

Police and transport sources have said cab and truck drivers were the worst offenders, with companies blatantly allowing drivers to stay on the road.

Under the changes welcomed by police and road safety organisations, speeding, red-light camera and level-crossing offences committed in a company-registered car will attract an increased fine of $2816 on top of the original traffic fine.

Organisations will be automatically slugged the higher penalty and it will be withdrawn only when a driver is nominated.

But the points attached to the original fine will still not be recorded against a licence if the company does not nominate someone.

Other changes include:

THE creation of a new offence - "failure to give an effective statement by a company" - which attracts a maximum court penalty of $16,900;

BANNING poor record keeping as a reason for not being able to nominate a driver;

NOT allowing taxi operators to claim they do not know who was driving; and

EXTENDING the time limit for starting prosecutions for providing false and misleading information from 12 to 24 months.

Currently, motorists get an extra $733 fine on top of their original traffic fine if they do not tell police who was driving at the time of the offence.



Roads Minister Terry Mulder said some unscrupulous operators and individuals had rorted the system by paying the fine rather than nominating the driver responsible for unsafe road behaviour.

"The government's changes will help remove the cowboys from the road by ensuring companies are financially motivated to nominate drivers who should be held accountable for breaking the law and putting other drivers at risk,'' Mr Mulder said.

Penalties for speeding range from $176 and one demerit point to $704 and eight points, while those in a heavy vehicle are slugged between $246 and one demerit point to $1620 and six points.

Going through a red light camera attracts a fine of $352 and three demerit points, while failing to stop or give way at a level crossing has a penalty of $704 and four demerit points.

Police spokeswoman Cath Allen said: "Victoria Police welcomes any changes that promote road safety and encourage greater driver responsibility and accountability''.

RoadSafe spokesman Andy Milbourne said he hoped the changes made people responsible for their actions.

"Hopefully it will take out some of these people who are out their flouting the law and putting everybody else at risk by driving dangerously on our roads," Mr Milbourne said.

amelia.harris@news.com.au

[MAD]

Didn't they attempt to close this already with a 3 strikes policy, or something, which resulted in a repossession of the vehicle.

[flappist]

They are really thrashing about in desperation here.

Victoria has a totalitarianistic attitute to speed enforcement yet has about the same road toll as the rest of the country so either Victorians are the least competent drivers in the country or the speed dogma is invalid.

Obviously the speed dogma can't be invalid because they make too much money out of it and Victorians while having shown they are arguably the least competent voters in the country are really no different to drivers in other states there must be something else that is preventing the golden goose roady safety gospel from dropping the Victorian road toll to below zero and they will spin doctor any and every thing to keep focus off the real issues.

[MAD]

Originally Posted by flappist

Victorians while having shown they are arguably the least competent voters in the country

Voting preference means jack. They all love the money and will spin a reason why they must stay.
There is a new government in place, what has happened? More "studies" and more results in favour of keeping the cash-cows.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by MAD

Voting preference means jack. They all love the money and will spin a reason why they must stay.
There is a new government in place, what has happened? More "studies" and more results in favour of keeping the cash-cows.

So what you are saying is that every mob you vote in are as bad as the previous? Yep I agree completely.

[MAD]

Originally Posted by flappist

So what you are saying is that every mob you vote in are as bad as the previous? Yep I agree completely.

Nice try.

[Silver Ghia]

IMO the camera system is flawed anyway, when it can't identify who is actually driving the vehicle at the time. The system allows for drivers to be nominated so anyone can take the demerit points when the actual offender has only a few left, or may already be disqualified.

The whole camera system is ridiculous, pretending to make roads safer. How about more police cars on the road? It certainly makes drivers behave better when one is around, plus they catch the actual offenders. And it might even actually make the roads safer. But the down side is less revenue.

[GK]

Originally Posted by MAD

Voting preference means jack. They all love the money and will spin a reason why they must stay.
There is a new government in place, what has happened? More "studies" and more results in favour of keeping the cash-cows.

True!

Studies and data manipulation are easily enough done. Heavens, the beaurocracy are so committed to their mantra/worldview that they'd do anything to justify their campaign.

And which government doesn't want a few hundred million extra in their coffers?

Remember when the Geelong FWY opened. The then roads minister said it was the "SAFEST" road in the country! If it's so bloomin safe, why the need for all of the road safety cameras?

Of course it's all about the cash!

GK

[010 f6 ute]

Pfft speed cameras are a joke all over the country, mates at work from the states and other places said riots would break out over the goverment taking your right to drive off you so easy. Some people cant be trusted on our roads yeah fair enough but i hate paying taxes and seeing speed cameras on every corner the points systeam sucks!!

[jpd80]

If it's mainly truck and taxi operators, surely there's an easier way to sort this out.
This is companies we're talking about, most of the ones I know have either a designated
driver or driver logues for pool vehicles, so it's not too hard to work out who was driving.

Most companies I know make the offending driver aware of the fine and ask for
their details to complete their statutory declaration and return to the transport authority.

[kaniSS]

I love how they threaten to fine people with unbelievably high amounts.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by kaniSS

I love how they threaten to fine people with unbelievably high amounts.

No, they threaten companies so that managers will act instead of paying the fine and asking the employee to cover it under the table.

[cs123]

Originally Posted by flappist

So what you are saying is that every mob you vote in are as bad as the previous? Yep I agree completely.

Aint that the truth.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by cs123

Aint that the truth.

Politicians are like nappies, both need to be changed regularly for the same reason

[zilo]

South Australia have sent out the fine assuming non-nomination for a while now.

They assume you will try and not take the points so they give the cash option up front.

[XWGT]

That god for backpackers with licences is all I can say.....

[joolz]

I wonder how many of those "repeat" offenders have actually been involved in "speed" related accidents. It wouldnt be too hard to track by the rego numbers as they are all recorded in an accident.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by GK

True!

Studies and data manipulation are easily enough done. Heavens, the beaurocracy are so committed to their mantra/worldview that they'd do anything to justify their campaign.

And which government doesn't want a few hundred million extra in their coffers?

Remember when the Geelong FWY opened. The then roads minister said it was the "SAFEST" road in the country! If it's so bloomin safe, why the need for all of the road safety cameras?

Of course it's all about the cash!

GK

And they said it was built to a 110 kph standard, but when they opened it they made it 100. 3 lane highways with next to no bends in it are total deathtraps it seems, and we can't be trusted to do 110 on these roads. Then the speed cameras go up.

Surely not a cash grab

This latest ploy is a way to boost the state coffers, they are desperate for money because some of the states GST revenue was re-distributed to other states.

[flappist]

Originally Posted by joolz

I wonder how many of those "repeat" offenders have actually been involved in "speed" related accidents. It wouldnt be too hard to track by the rego numbers as they are all recorded in an accident.

Well obviously none otherwise there would be a "10 previous speeding offenses" tag on the news items.

[joolz]

Originally Posted by flappist

Well obviously none otherwise there would be a "10 previous speeding offenses" tag on the news items.

True that. The media would be all over it especially the Gov to justify the cameras and radars.

[Elks]

Nice.

Professional truck drivers of course can rack up plenty of points and look for ways to keep as many as possible. As it is very easy to run out of points when you are doing 250,000km per annum on main roads and highways, which are all heavily patrolled. The (aledged) option of handing to your wife/mother/gran/cat disappears when when they don't nhave a b-double licence. And there livelihood depends upon it.

So with a little "sloppy" record keeping they can be protected then so be it. Im sure logbooks manifests, and pay records could all pinpoint the right driver if a damn was given. But $2,800 bucks!!! Wow. Lets think about this. $2,800 on top of the fine for doing 64 in a 60 zone.

[cool65]

My old boss had his car registered with his company & ANY camera fine that came in with his registration, Ka ching $600 paid by the company. I know of extra $6000 spent over 5 years - no points lost