A truck driver who was fined $1636 and four demerit points for driving too close to the truck and dog that cut him off, has this morning had his penalties dismissed in court.
Garry Hall, who has been a truck driver for the past five years, contacted Big Rigs in August after receiving the ludicrous fine in the mail.
Despite having dashcam vision and GPS data from the truck, showing his attempts to slow down, when he approached Revenue NSW to contest the fine, he was unsuccessful.
“It shouldn’t have even gone this far,” said Garry. “I sent all the evidence through to Revenue NSW to begin with and they kind of said bad luck, so I had no option but to take it to court.”
HC licenced, Garry’s work sees him behind the wheel of a fuel truck, making deliveries across NSW and the ACT.
He previously expressed his shock at receiving the fine in the mail, for the incident that occurred on June 10.
Garry had been travelling along the Great Western Highway, at Little Hartley in the Blue Mountains, coming back from Bathurst – a run he does quite often.
Fines covering safe driving distances vary greatly between states and locations. In NSW, failure to keep the prescribed safe distance to the vehicle travelling in front of you can land you a fine of $544. But, if this happens in a Safe-T-Cam zone or average speed detection zone, the value of that fine skyrockets to $1636.
Unluckily for Garry, this incident occurred within a Safe-T-Cam zone.
According to Garry’s fine, on the road he was travelling he was required to leave at least 60 metres between his vehicle and the vehicle in front of him. When he was pinged, it said there was a 15.99 metre gap.
Garry had previously told Big Rigs, “As I was approaching, I saw a truck and dog had pulled up to the side. Then he’s pulled out in front of me and I got done for being too close. It was right near a fixed speed camera.”
Left with no other option than to either cop it on the chin or fight it in court, Garry chose the latter option and after this morning’s outcome, he’s glad he did.
Garry spoke with Big Rigs shortly after his brief court appearance and expressed his relief at the outcome.
“When I got to court, the judge didn’t even look at the dashcam footage. She said she could clearly see from the photos that he pulled out in front of me. They also had the GPS data printed out from work too, which showed the speed. The lowest I got to was 32km/h in an 80 zone, so the judge could see that I made an attempt to slow down. Even she said this shouldn’t have come this far.”
Garry had attempted to get a lawyer specialising in heavy vehicle law, but due to the high fees, he decided to represent himself in court.
“It’s very nerve-racking when you’ve never been to court before. I was a bit nervous,” he admitted. “I wasn’t sure what would happen, or the outcome, or how the judge would be towards me.”
Garry continued, “I lost a day of work. Normally I start at midnight. But I was only in there for about 5 minutes. It all worked out in the end though.
“I’m so relieved that it’s all over, just knowing I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
As a truck driver, working on the road each day, Garry says the loss of demerit points was of even greater concern to him than the monetary penalty imposed. “The fine itself wasn’t as much of a worry, because you can pay that off slowly, it was the demerit points that was concerning. Because once you lose them, you don’t get them back for three years.”
Garry added that he was lucky that his employer was supportive throughout the whole ordeal. “They really had back my back and supported me all along. They were very happy about the outcome when I called them this morning.”
He’s also thankful that he had the evidence to prove he wasn’t at fault. “If I didn’t have the dashcam, I would’ve had to just pay it. I think there are a lot of people out there that’ll just take it if they get a fine. But if you have the dashcam evidence and the GPS data, then you may as well fight it.
“In this case everything was on my side, so it was definitely worth a shot to take it to court.
“If you look at the footage, where the other truck pulls out from, there is a stop sign and he didn’t even stop!”