Australian Speeding Fine ! Should i pay ??

paul moore

Hello,

Looking for advise here! We are just after coming back off our 5 week holiday in Australia.Today i receive a speeding fine from Victoria Police!
From what i can make out i was captured by Automatic Detection Device...must be speed camera.
I dont know what your allowed in Ireland but i was doing 106km in a 100 km zone !!!! Like they give me until the end of Oct. to pay the fine of $134.00 for what they know i could be out there for a year & i wouldnt see the post back in Ireland.The car i was driving at the time would have been a hired car from Avis so thats where they got my details.
It also says "DEMERIT POINTS: 1" Surely this cant be transfered into the Irish point system ??

So let me know what ye think !!!

Stephen

If you ever intend to go back there, pay it. They won't be able to give you points.

leeroybrown

As Stephen says, if you intend to apply for another Australian visa at any stage then pay it.

Gandhi

Just pay the cash. I live in the States and I can't even count the amount of lads I've known over the years that headed back to Ireland with some unpaid bill or fine and years later wished they hadn't. How much is AUS134.00 these days? About E70 or so?

paul moore

Yea about that,i just couldnt beleive the i was only 6 km over the limit !!!! like in our old days thats 3.75 MPH !!!!!!!!!!

Eoin

paul moore wrote:

Yea about that,i just couldnt beleive the i was only 6 km over the limit !!!! like in our old days thats 3.75 MPH !!!!!!!!!!

Seems harsh alright. By the way, I presume someone had to give their CC details to rent the car, so I'm pretty sure they'll get their cash one way or the other.

seamus

They can't charge his credit card without his consent, even if they are the police.

You never know where the future will take you. The amount of people who've gone to the states and ignored traffic offences because they were coming home, only to be red-faced ten years later when work tries to send them there and their visa is refused.

Pay the measly fine and be done with it. The points can't be applied to your Irish licence.

daiixi

Hey, what can I say? We don't want people to speed.

It's a small amount of money, just pay it.

Anan1

seamus wrote:

They can't charge his credit card without his consent, even if they are the police.

I was wondering about this myself. The police couldn't, but could the rental company? It could be that in their conditions the renter accepts liability for fines incurred. If the renter fails to pay, do the rental company become liable for the fine? And if so, could they claim the money from the renter?

Eoin

seamus wrote:

They can't charge his credit card without his consent, even if they are the police.

Avis probably can; I'd imagine they have this in their TOC when you sign the rental agreement.

Edit: what Anan1 said.

Anan1

eoin_s wrote:

Avis probably can; I'd imagine they have this in their TOC when you sign the rental agreement.

Edit: what Anan1 said.

I wish I'd thought of putting it like that.;)

kikel

Anan, that could very easily be the case. how often de we read teh small print

paul moore

Oh ill pay it no problem,do the UK drivers get away with speeding over here if caught on camera ???
That maybe different cause the car is in a different Country ?

Sandwich

paul moore wrote:

Yea about that,i just couldnt beleive the i was only 6 km over the limit !!!! like in our old days thats 3.75 MPH !!!!!!!!!!

6km - but see the post on accuracy of speedos - you pobably had 10km-15km on the needle as you looked at it so you shouldnt really complain.

Eoin

paul moore wrote:

Oh ill pay it no problem,do the UK drivers get away with speeding over here if caught on camera ???
That maybe different cause the car is in a different Country ?

Points can't be issued to UK drivers yet - I think this is on the way though. Don't know what would happen to a UK driver who had outstanding fines, and was caught back in the Republic though.

seamus

eoin_s wrote:

Avis probably can; I'd imagine they have this in their TOC when you sign the rental agreement.

Ah of course, but if the system works anything like over here, Avis simply tell the Aussie police that "No sir, it's a rental car, here's the name and address of the man who was driving it", and Avis are no longer liable. At that point, the Oz police can't go back to Avis and demand the cash unless our OP writes back saying "Nope, wasn't me". That is of course, if it works like it does over here.

maidhc

seamus wrote:

Ah of course, but if the system works anything like over here, Avis simply tell the Aussie police that "No sir, it's a rental car, here's the name and address of the man who was driving it", and Avis are no longer liable. At that point, the Oz police can't go back to Avis and demand the cash unless our OP writes back saying "Nope, wasn't me". That is of course, if it works like it does over here.

I got the impression that when you rent a car any random amount of money may get deducted for fines/damage/imaginary damage.

Our man in Havana

Nope. The only thing they can get you for after the rental is parking tickets which the rental company pays on your behalf and then passes the charge onto you plus a hefty admin fee.

paul moore

Sandwich wrote:

6km - but see the post on accuracy of speedos - you pobably had 10km-15km on the needle as you looked at it so you shouldnt really complain.

I heard ths before but the YARIS is Digital !

Alun

paul moore wrote:

I heard ths before but the YARIS is Digital !

... which is completely irrelevant. My wife has a Yaris and that reads about 8% over as well. It's built into the instrument cluster firmware.

Victor

paul moore wrote:

Like they give me until the end of Oct. to pay the fine of $134.00 for what they know i could be out there for a year & i wouldnt see the post back in Ireland.

Eh, maybe they checked immigration records?

Gandhi

I doubt they care whether you saw the post or not. Most likely they have some regulation that they send out the letter on day X, and if you don't reply within Y days, a warrant for your arrest goes out on day Z. If you were in orbit around the moon at the time they fired off the letter, it does not matter to them.

Just pay the E70 and put this sh!t to bed, man. As I said, I can't even count the number of lads I've met who wished they had the chance to go back in time and do just that. Could you even buy a pint in Temple Bar for E70 these days?

paul moore

Paid !!

Our man in Havana

I wonder if they will send you a receipt.