A well-known truck driver and truckie advocate has spoken about how his colleague was fined and given three demerit points on his licence for speeding at 116km/h – when he had proof that he wasn’t going anywhere near that fast.
Trevor Warner put together the book of evidence for his colleague after he approached him for help.
Warner said his colleague was driving a late model Volvo truck along the flat near Cardwell, Queensland about two years ago when police picked him up for allegedly doing 116km/h in a 100km/h zone.
“He queried the copper straight away, because he knew there was no way he had been driving that fast,” he told Big Rigs.
“They walked back to the patrol car together and there the reading was – 116km.
“He didn’t want a confrontation on the side of the road, so he just let it go at the time, and then he came to me for help.”
Warner and his colleague put in a request for the speeding offence to be reviewed by Queensland police, which was rejected, so they took it to court.
“I wrote a letter to the court saying that I drive exactly the same vehicle and I can attest that the vehicle’s speed of 116km/h was impossible unless it was on a downward slope, which in this case it certainly wasn’t.
“We organised an ECM download. We accessed the third-party recorded GPS data. We got a certificate from the vehicle manufacturer saying that the speed limiter hadn’t been tampered with.
“The manufacturer also gives an overall speed for the life of the vehicle, and the top category is anything greater than 108km/h. It showed the vehicle had never exceeded 108.
“We even had a letter from the vehicle workshop manager saying that all the vehicles in our particular fleet are under tight controls and no vehicle in the fleet has been tampered with.”
Warner and his colleague had 21 pages of evidence in total to fight the case in court.
“The book of evidence may as well have been a roll of toilet paper in the view of the magistrate,” he said.
“The driver went in and he was basically treated like an idiot.
“The magistrate was only interested in what the highway patrol officer had to say.
“They have got to do a pre-trip and a calibration when they start their shift. The officer said they had done all that.
“The driver was basically ignored and the magistrate said the charges stood.”
Warner’s colleague was fined $400 and given three demerit points on his licence.
“He also had to pay another $300 to get the speedometer certified so we had the evidence,” he continued.
“It’s not so much the money but the points that are so precious to drivers.”
His colleague was so worn out at this point that he decided not to appeal the court’s decision.
“I wanted him to appeal it but at that stage he was just tired of it all.
“Sometimes it’s just a better business decision to pay the money and move on.”
Warner said he has been doing some research and there are several different things that can interfere with a reading on a speed camera.
“There are about six or seven different things in the environment and the set up in the truck/car that can give a false reading.
“Even police that hide behind big road signs, that can cause interference with the reading.
“The police just don’t want to know.”
Queensland police declined to comment on the matter as it had been before the courts.
Typical arrogance of our government in all aspects
I got done for 70 in a 60 zone which was impossible because I was 4th in a line of vehicles.
I fought it and proved both officers lied.
I had a 4 hr hearing and magistrate tore strip’s off the prosecuter for not having original docs and turning up heavily hungover.
The magistrate accepted the site crime scene photos were not accepted because they were taken 4 days before court, and 18 months after the alleged offence.
The magistrate noticed that although police had a calibration certificate for the start of shift, THEY DIDN’T HAVE ONE FOR END OF SHIFT, so I won the case.
Welcome back to the 1960-70 years. This used to happen to us older drivers every night, they were called Phantoms.
Say again, this is not revenue raising.
If you say it enough, maybe it will become true.
I read your story about the truckie in Cardwell doing an impossible speed. I took a no stopping ticket to court and was similarly ignored and ridiculed. The magistrate went so far as to say that the police had not followed procedure but still made me pay the fine and costs!
The $$$ from traffic offences are just too big to fail. Billions of dollars over the whole country per year so the government will not let so much as a chink in the armour.
The only way we will see change is for every person getting a fine to challenge, regardless of fault. That would see a significant % being reversed and then the house of cards crumbles. However then the government will find another way to replace the revenue, which could be worse.
Yup, revenue and control.. our governments in this country are it of control.
Proof from various sources that the truck driver was in the right but law enforcement and courts are only interested is taken drives points and money over the truth stinks
Quite a few legal terms come to mind. No I’m not a lawyer.
The judge should be sacked. He has to hear both sides of the story to make a decision.
The lack of objectivness and interaction with the law is another feeding ground of resentment ..As for the long term negative High & Mighty court narrative… it has been allowed for so long that anyone with a minor issue is just wiped away quickly ..
This results in a lack of respect and confidence in the whole process which the youth of today are certainly not afraid of.
This is why I no longer drive trucks, this is why the industry is having trouble finding drivers. Where else can you go to work & get fined for the most stupid things
I’ll never go back to this industry ever again
I experienced a “Stitch Up” as we called them back in the late 1970’s by police on an Easter Weekend and the officers never zeroed the speed gun after showing me the speed but pulled up another driver for the same trumped up charge.
After that event I have never had any respect for Police from that day to this.
I’m not a truckie but similar thing happened to me. Got booked for doing a “burnout” in a FWD Honda. Took a folder of info to court, mechanics letter saying the car is FWD and can’t do a burnout, etc. Judge ignored it all and fined me $400 and 3 points for “Negligent Driving” because the HWP said so.
Yep just been railroaded myself by a judge that did not want to know what l had to say. 29 years of driving trucks no fines, never booked ,didnt make a scrap of difference, judged by a female who has no idea about or experience in a truck but boy did she smash me. So my day in court was also my last as a truck driver … its not worth the hassle in todays environment with over zealous cops just looking for that revenue.