We Deserve Better From The QPS

Why do they never want to listen? Why do these regularly ignorant traffic cops refuse to listen to anything from you when you are pulled over for breaking a traffic law whilst trying to protect yourself? The last time I was booked was in early March - it was one of these occasions.

I was riding to work and pulled up at traffic lights next to a car. I was watching this bloke because I could see he was playing with his phone. When the lights turned green the driver of this car decided to pick up his phone and try to text someone - in doing so his car swerved from his lane into the left lane where I was and then across into the lane to the right of the one he started in!! My natural instinct was to get away, and do so in a hurry. It just so happened that I was in the cross hairs of a coppers speed gun at that exact time.

The first thing he asked me after pulling me over was "Do you have any medical reason for breaking the posted speed limit?". WTF?? Doesn't life preservation count?? I tried to explain to this prick-in-blue what had previously happened, but he was not interested at all . He simply said to me that "That is no reason to break the speed limit".

Now, let me tell you something - whomever is trying to spread this bullshit about making roads safer by setting up more speed camera locations is totally ignorant. Had I been listened to, I think I had a fair case - the fact of the matter is that this prick-in-blue (and he was a first class prick) did not want to listen to me. I felt I was protecting myself from being hit, but not in a "legal" way - I will be the first to admit that I was speeding as I did directly to him, however, my life is far more important than breaking the posted speed limit!! The majority of Queensland Traffic Police treat all motorists the same, which is totally wrong - us riders deserve a little bit of leniency in situations like the above. We don't have the luxury of more than a ton of metal protecting us.

So, if you are serious Mr Commissioner Bob Atkinson, pull your head out and tell your enforcers to use a little common sense, because the Queensland Police Service is fast becoming the Department of Revenue for our state government and loosing a lot of respect with motorcycle riders!

Pull your head out Bob!!

Demerit Points

I have got to give some credit to the RTA in New South Wales - at the start of February they took the initiative to increase the number of demerit points on a NSW drivers license as well as reduce or remove points for 22 driving offences.

Why were these changes implemented?
Since the demerit points scheme was introduced in 1969, the motoring environment has changed significantly. The number of vehicles on the road has increased, and the road network has been extended and improved.

The changes to the demerit points scheme have been implemented to reflect these conditions.

The additional point for professional drivers recognises that these drivers spend more time on the roads.

This now means that our friends down south have an advantage over all their interstate counterparts - and all the while I was under the misguided belief that the demerit points scheme was a national initiative!

To the government bodies across the rest of this country who continue to roll out more & more speed cameras as well as reduce speed limits on some roads to ridiculous levels - GET WITH THE TIMES and follow the RTA's lead.

Read more HERE.

A Handy Website To Bookmark...

I stumbled across this website the other day and thought it may be of use to other riders. Scott Cooper offers some interesting advice should you ever be pulled over for an alleged speeding offence as well as quoting some of the police forces own guidelines regarding the use of speed detection devices, and how they ignore these at times.

Have a read - Speeding Fine Consultants - this kind of info my be useful to you some day!!