So, hello to Australia, welcome back from your ten years in London, here's a SPEEDING FINE! I want to describe the utterly ridiculous situation that led to me incurring a $165.00 fine and having a point deducted from [in this case] my mother in law's licence.
We've been back in country a very short time, no road rules have changed - the roads, in most cases, even remain the same... however, whilst travelling north along Middleborough rd in Box Hill I guess you would call it, just at the Eastern Freeway exit, there's a set of lights... Big 'what look like' red light cameras set up on either side, as RLC's usually are...
I'm travelling towards the lights, wife in passenger seat, baby in his seat in the back when the lights change to orange - I'm about 25 feet shy of the intersection and there's no way I want to be caught by the red light camera, but there's no safe way to stop, either - split second decision, I gun it (I'm in a Renault with the least responsive engine I've ever experienced) which gives me a gear (amazingly!) and about 5km/h extra to swing through the light before that orange becomes a red, which in most cases (Nathan) means stop!... There's a flash and I'm eternally defiant to my now erupting wife that 'how could it possibly have been me' ..and that if it was me, how the hell was I meant to stop without being rear-ended? She see's sense, we continue our journey to Yarrawonga (Oh My Days!)
A couple of weeks later, a smugly dressed envelope arrives with a lovely $165.00 fine and a point deduction just for good luck for the whole 'red light' thing... but, to my utter dismay, it's a speeding fine!!
Please, for the love of all things holy, can someone tell me how that is anything other than a revenue generating intersection?
1. I was travelling at the speed limit aside from those few, forced feet. 2. I had no safe stopping distance. 3. I made a split second decision to make it through that amber light. 4. I didn't change the direction or flow of traffic. 5. I wasn't rear-ended as a result of stupid driving decisions.
WHY would you place a speed camera on an intersection like that? It's going to do nothing other than make people believe it's a red light camera, they're going to speed up to make it through the lights if they don't have a safe stopping distance and they're going to be penalised as a result.
Vic Roads? Please, help me to see sense...