Sorry to those who are tired of me banging on about the speeding fine I got
last year, but the whole thing seems to get murkier and murkier.
Basically I was fined for breaking the speed limit set by a sign that I
hadn't passed in what I believed was not a built area - it was a rural road,
buildings were much further than 500 metres apart and there were no street
lights.
According to the law, you do not have to pass a speed sign for the speed
limit of a sign that could be hundreds of metres behind you to be
enforcable. In other words, technically, if a temporary 40 km/h sign is
erected in what is usually a 100 km/h zone, and you do not pass (and there
could not have seen) the 40 sign, you could be fined for breaking the speed
limit by 60km/h.
Ok, that's the law and from now on when I turn onto a road (even a highway)
I will drive at 60 until I see a sign that says otherwise (I probably should
drive at 20 just in case I'm unwittingly entering a road works area, but the
reason I have a car is that I need to to places - I'll take may chances).
Besides, according to the police officer, I should have known that it was a
built up area because there "was a building in the area".
The thing that I've just thought of is whether I'm allowed to use high beam
at night on this section of road. Isn't high beam prohibited in built up
areas? This is a crazy (and dangerous) situation - high beam is essential on
this road at night, but if the law says it's a built up area....
Is the traffic act so badly written that the law can be twisted and bent to
suit the circumstances at hand? That's how it seems - I didn't pass a sign,
and I don't believe I was in a built up area, yet they can fine me for
breaking the speed limit.
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