Highway Robbery, Queensland-style

With a Queensland State election looming and a federal poll in the wind, I’ve already made my mind up like thousands of other electors.  The polls clearly show many won’t be swayed by the cash-splash dollars Labor says is to help with burgeoning cost of living pressures — pressures they and their Canberra counterparts have largely created.

We know the latest extravagance is adding to huge deficits which would be much more massive if not for lucrative royalties and taxes on the much maligned mining industry which is responsible for the bulk of  government income streams.

That cash splash is a magician’s sleight of hand — now you see it, then you won’t. Marvel at those $300 grants promised to everyone, including billionaires. It’s a figure that doesn’t come close to offsetting the $1000 our annual bills have risen since PM Albanese promised at least 100 times that energy bills would drop by $275. But apparently that was just “aspirational”, not to be taken too seriously.

My main gripe, though, is with Queensland Premier Steven ‘Giggles’ Miles. His very generous 50 cent  Translink fares have raised the ire of  regional residents, who rightly think they are subsidising their southeastern cousins.

We recently made a short trip to collect our son and daughter-in-law and drop them at the nearest railway station, where they bought 50-cent Go Cards to Brisbane, en route to the airport and a flight to visit our ancestral home, Denmark, and other European nations.

Had I known, I could have paid $300 for a limousine to take them direct to the airport, thrown in a bottle of bubbly, and still saved money.

How so? Well I was pinged by the police for the crime of driving a few km/hr over the unposted limit of 50 km/hr. I wasn’t driving a stolen car, high on drugs, or doing 100 km/hour over the limit, but around the same day, I’m sure others were.

So I sent  the following email to the Honourable Mr. Miles:

Dear Premier,
I am writing to you to inform you of an example of what I regard as pure revenue-raising by your Queensland Police which seems completely at odds with the news of serious crime we are confronted with daily, and which will no doubt be a major issue in the coming state elections, along with escalating cost of living pressures.

We continually see and hear of major youth crime, often by repeat offenders, domestic violence, arson, car thefts and road incidents involving drivers often high on drugs driving at high speeds, usually in stolen cars. This must obviously place a strain on limited police resources.

That is why I was very surprised to receive a traffic infringement notice … in the mail yesterday with a fine of $322 “for exceeding the speed limit by less than 11km/hr.” My alleged speed was 58km/hr in a 50 km/hr zone, and this occurred at 13.08 pm, not on a short narrow street or cul de sac … but a wide interconnecting thoroughfare several km long. I entered it via a side street and assumed the speed limit would be 60km/hr. I even saw the police SUV off the side of the road, looked at my speedo and thought I was well within the limit. There was hardly any other traffic at that time and I would assert that I certainly was not driving dangerously or putting anyone else at risk.

With the serious crime issues mentioned above, it’s incredible that police resources could be diverted to sitting for hours — possibly all day — on a suburban street with probably little or no major accident history in the hope of catching normally law-abiding motorists a few km over the limit. My own personal driving record dating back more than 60 years involves very few infringements and nothing more serious than the incident outlined here.

I would not be alone in noting that speed camera vehicles are often obscured by trees, on downhill slopes and placed near where speed limits change up or down, which does nothing to slow motorists down, rather than catch them out and boost state coffers. By all means catch serious offenders and dangerous drivers, but not those straying over the limit by a few km/hr who would be driving more dangerously if their eyes were continually diverted to their speedometers…

A good policy would involve you and Police Minister Mark Ryan instructing police to concentrate on major crime, including major road infringements…”

I haven’t received a reply, but if I ever do it will probably be along the lines of ‘speed kills, every km over the limit is a potential killer, I was putting the lives of my passenger(s) at risk etc etc ad nauseam….‘ Yeah right! Maybe invest in some actual speed limit signs on major suburban roads!

I could count the speeding fines since I received my first licence at age 17  on one hand, and I’ve owned plenty of fast cars. But one incident in particular was almost worth it for the laughs it has raised over the years.

I’ll share an excerpt from my memoir, Don’t Call Me Nev:

My boys and I had watched in awe and admiration as Allan Moffat and Colin Bond crossed the line for a 1 – 2 finish at Mt Panorama in 1977.  Moffat’s Falcon had no brakes at that stage but his lead was big enough for Bond to pull alongside, slow down and allow his boss to claim victory!

The next year, Ford brought out a limited edition Allan Moffat Special to appeal to his legion of rev-head fans. These came equipped with goodies including four wheel disc brakes, slick four speed gearbox, limited slip diff and a smooth but powerful 302 cubic inch V8 under the sleek hood with twin nostril air vents.

Yes please, count me in. I was an editor now and could stretch the budget to buy the red and black beast. What a great drive! ….But one night on a return trip from our hometown Bundaberg, I knew I was a goner when a cop wearing reflective clothing and armed with a radar gun bounded onto the road at the bottom of a long slope on the Bruce Highway north of Gin Gin and started waving me down.

“Oh @#$%, he’s got me!” I blurted.

Cathy, half asleep in the comfortable bucket seat alongside me, replied: “What do you mean ‘Got you’? You can easily miss him…”

What the heck was my lovely, law-abiding wife suggesting now? Outrun the law???

“ No I can’t, he’s got me”.

My foot is on the brake and we are slowing as she again replies, “ That big white kangaroo on the road ahead. Of course you can miss him!”

Uh-oh, should have gone to Spec Savers, Cathy!

I could hardly stop laughing before I pulled over and wound down the window as the cop approached. But I couldn’t tell him that my wife had just mistaken him for Skippy’s albino cousin…