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Bike rack fine!
Copped a $327 fine for "Obscuring number plates" for our tow bar bike rack.
Now we genuinely had no frickin clue about the requirement for special bike plates but the size of the fine is pretty harsh.
Legally speaking, pleading ignorance is far from an excuse, but has anyone been successful in getting off these sorts of fines?
The size of the fine is a little harsh I felt. If it ranged something similar to not having P plates on or something to that effect, where it used to be around $80 - $120...fair enough. Quite happy to take it on the chin and lesson learnt but shit! $327!!
Talk about kicking a guy in the nads whilst hes down, the cop decided to rub it in and say "all it costs for a special plate is $24"...aaaand heres your million dollar fine!
Whats worse...we were a few hundred metres away from ride start, Loftus oval, when we got yanked over...joy!
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but unfortunately as you said already ignorance is no defense. The fine is certainly not proportional to the offence though when you think speeding will cost less and is far more dangerous.
You're also lucky he didn't do you for obscuring your rear lights and signals. One bike on the back and you can get away with it if you have a bike rack plate, but if you have two or three bikes they may pull you up for that too. I got my self a Thule number plate strip with lights on that connects to your tow bar power, but you can make one yourself if so inclined.
That's a bugger, $327 is huge for a seemingly small offence. It's also just as illegal to have a 'number plate' you made yourself.
Just call the RTA, you can order over the phone and pay by credit card. i think you've got to go fetch it from your local RTA then.
Was this with or without bikes on the rack? I never fix the plate when it's empty but always do when carrying bikes. If you got fined without any bikes time to change that.
I had a cop give me the verbal at the traffic lights for not having a plate. I knew I should have had one but thought it was one of those minor offences most people overlook. And then it got me thinking. If I triggered a speeding or red light camera then they wouldn't be able to see the number plate so I wouldn't get caught. So on that basis it is a big deal and deserves the same hefty fine. Sorry mate but I think you've got to accept your fate!
It's required whether bikes are on or not
Get the number plates from the RTA
I think you copped it pretty hard, getting a fine rather than a warning though, must have been down on his quota the crims around loftus musta stayed home that day
Ouch. $327. I thought the fine for "obscuring number plates" was only $74. Like the others have said, an obscured number plate can be used to avoid going caught by red light / speed cameras.
On a related note, I stopped at a police road block near Maroubra over the long weekend. One of the cops pointed out that my tow ball was obstructing my number plate (and it was!) and he told me to remove it ASAP else it was going to be a $2000 (!!!) fine. I later found out that the fine was nowhere near that amount. He kept repeating that figure to me saying it was a "deception offence" and they have "taken down my details so if I get caught again it will be an on the spot fine".
Anyway, I pulled over to the nearest mechanic and got them to remove the tow ball. I no longer have a bike rack so the tow ball wasn't being used. Pretty poor design by Subaru to put the number plate at the bottom of the bumper, if you ask me.
$2000!!! perhaps it was one of those new "APEC double deception offence lock you up for nuthin with no reason" weekends... think yourself lucky your not sitting in gitmo!
Unfortunately I believe you fell foul of this very serious RTA infringement -
NUMBER PLATES
Use vehicle with obscured/defaced/illegible number plate
CLASS A MOTOR VEHICLE $324, 3 (demerit points), RT (VR) Reg 2007 Cl 52(1)(a)
Luckily you didn't get caught doing 70 in a school zone, otherwise the offence would have been taken much more seriously:
LIGHT VEHICLES More than 15 km/h but not more than 30 km/h (in school zone), 4 (demerit points) - $324
You are supposed to be scared off of potentially killing numerous children by a penalty which carries precisely ONE more demerit point than the penalty for hiding a couple of numbers on your number plate.
(OK so other charges would be laid if that happened, but as a deterrent for going fast (nobody thinks of the consequences when they're speeding) it doesn't do much does it?)
Here's another one - who's ever seen a red P-Plater hauled over for overtaking you on the freeway? They're limited to 90k's an hour and if they're doing 115 to overtake you, they supposedly get $243 and 4 points, which equals an instant licence suspension. Now that would teach you a lesson, not banging you up for a number plate offence.
Perhaps your police mate couldn't be arsed to drive another 2 k's down the Princes Highway and bag some real crims because his stats would show $100 less than your collar.
My friend and I got stopped too by some cops for having the bikes obstructing the rego plate while heading to Canberra for a competition . We got a 10 minute lecture and were told that we were going to get a $260 fine (this was two and a half years ago) and lose 2 points on the driving licence. Luckily, they never went ahead with the fine. However, we were also told that if driving by night, the bike rack plate needs to have a light the same way as on the plate on the car/trailer.
It costs indeed very little to get a bike rack plate from the RTA ($34 nowdays in NSW) and you get it within about 10 days.
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/numberpla...
You will need to collect it at the RTA of your choice. I got one recently! I confirm a self-made plate is totally invalid.
Thanks Bubble I've decided to hurry up and order a real bike rack plate! I've been using a cardboard piece for too long (though I wouldn't expect the fine to be that big for this kind of infringement). Anyone been fined for that here?
Tom
I always (90% of the time) have the number plate attached.
I also read the piece of paper that comes with the plate..you are meant to have lights attached etc.
The type of rack I have (thule one that clamps onto the ball..light jobby for 2 bikes) doesnt really allow for this. Not to mention its getting to be a bit of a joke timewise to do everytime.
Always worried about the lights thing though..
I have the same one that clamps onto the tow bar ball - you can get an extension thing that has lights and space for number plates. Check with that Thule place in Artarmon.
Tom
Signed, sealed and delivered. The letter to the infringement bureau came back ... DEnied!
If I didnt run over the bunch of wombats 7 years ago, I would of been ok. They generally let you off fines if you've had a perfect record of more than 10 years. But neigh ...
Lesson learnt but and I now have a Thule light rack for $120. However the brilliant swedish design allowed it to fly off and was dragged a few hundred metres as I bunged up the F3, hanging on by the thread of electrical cables.
With it being half road scorched, holes and clips needed to be drilled into the bike rack to keep it in place.
Geez, why is that everything is learnt the hard way on this!
On that note, my conscious has alerted me to the large number of cars sporting bike racks without the special plate, including one car that had a print out of their plate! HA and it was a dead ringer against the real thing too!!
Well suffice to say that its put me off the trail of Loftus. Besides it being too close to Zappia and his flying fists of fury, not that great of a trail anyhow.
obscuring the plates can even be due to dirt or dust..... unfortunately its the law.
Be warned that the speeding fines initial starting point will drop from 15kmh over to 10kmh over July 1 two months early!! Yay. The points do go down though if thats any consolation.
>> A bunch of academics in Adelaide are lobbying the govt to control car speed by satellite so that in a 60 zone you can only do 60 and so on... claiming it will cut the road toll.
God help us if we dont have the ability to accelerate out of a dangerous situation.>>
The road toll is tragic but its very very low and remained low even with many many more drivers on the road.
Better darn roads would be a good solution.
As with everything, education is they key to the road toll.
A little regulation wouldn't go amiss, but everyone is so used to having things so easy whatever is done there is an outcry.
To be honest, I'm all for this satellite speed control so long as there is a 'kick down' sensor that overrides it when you need that 'emergency acceleration' (although if you are doing the speed limit hitting the brakes would probably be more appropriate). Also - users who abuse such a feature should be investigated. Yeah, let's make cameras mandatory and record the action several seconds prior to these events. When would it end?!
You might think I'm mad for saying this, but having a little box in the car that stops speeding would be a good thing. This is because slow speed limits are actually more dangerous - you have to check the speedo far more often and therefore cannot possibly be watching your surrounds as you should.
Or yeah, perhaps some more driver education might be good.
It also does not help that the standard family car here is a 4 litre V6, but we've spoken about that before.
....Liam Caro and I were heading south for a ride last year when I got pulled over for a morning breath test.
When the Police noticed my full bike rack covering the plates!!!! I near put on the water works explaining I only had two points left on the licence and that I would be stuffed and loose my job (which was true).
Liam said to the officers could we take the plate off the car and cable tie it to the bikes which he agreed to, I later found out that is illigal also.
no fine.
Just goes to show its all down to the mood of the officer.
Greg
PS: I now have a bike rack plate and am going into the shed to build a bike rack light right now, no excuses now!
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The Liver is Evil and must be punished
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