In NSW a woman has been fined for scratching her face whilst driving. A mobile phone camera took a photo of her whilst driving and it looks like she's holding a mobile phone to her ear. It really does look like it.
Aussie woman who received a mobile phone fine claims she was scratching her face (nine.com.au)
However if you inspect the photo closely and look at the woman's fingers you'll see they'd have to be unusually long to have wrapped that far around the mobile phone. The black only goes half way into the palm of her hand and the dark background is similar between her hand and her face and also between her forearm and her upper arm. Have a look at the width of the black area near the base of the thumb and then the black area between her fingers and you'll see the black between her fingers goes much higher. A mobile phone is a rectangle and is unlikely to create that shape. The width of the black area near the base of the thumb is insufficient to be a mobile phone unless somehow she is holding the mobile phone on back of her thumb which I don't think is possible.
Try it for yourself. Hold a mobile phone in your hand next to your ear and then look at how the fingers wrap around the mobile phone. You'll notice the fingers can't go that far around the mobile phone. Now do the same again scratching the side of your face and you'll see your fingers are in the position shown by Steff Doney, the woman in the picture.
The problem I've had with the review process for other matters is often it's not doesn't feel very thorough. For a parking fine where the signs exceeded the distance limit it needed to get to the point of a court case before the case was reviewed properly. An elapsed time of nearly two years. Another family member was fined for being in a parking spot without a permit when the permit was displayed and they had a witness backing them. Multiple days off to attend court with the case being dropped before being heard.
There's no incentive when you're incorrectly fined as if they drop the case they pay nothing. You've just had a lot of angst over a long period of time. Most people will simply pay the fine to avoid the angst and the potential of having to pay even more if the case is awarded against you. It almost feels like extortion but that's the way the system works. Even when a case is won by someone else and many have already been fined, the general line that comes out of a review is if people have already paid they have admitted guilt. Only those who have elected to fight have their cases withdrawn, or in some cases penalty refunded and points removed. This is not a fair way to treat people.
I wish Steff Doney all the best in her fight for justice.
It's really quite sad how much effort you really have to make to prove your innocence when it's you against the system. People don't realise it is quite time consuming and it really, it least it does for me, cause a lot of angst.
- Fine arrives in the mail unexpectedly which you're not at all happy with.
- You need to review the fine and check what has happened. This may take some investigation.
- Write a letter requesting a review.
- Request is denied.
- Request the matter go to court.
- In my parking fine case the court held the case before the date of the hearing without my presence or my knowing the court case was being held. I was found guilty. I then had to complete the task of asking for a rehearing.
- Court hearing to have case reheard
- Attach court hearing and have case rescheduled.
- Attend initial court hearing (may or may not get delayed).
- Plead not guilty. Another court hearing for case to be heard if you plead not guilty.
- Court hearing to be held scheduled.
- Need to have meeting with prosecutor (in my case) which may be time consuming to organise as they don't get back to you.
- Another court hearing if the fine isn't withdrawn.
- Matter is heard in court and system is biased against you. In my experience it feels like it's the government's legal system and the prosecutor against you. You have to have a case that goes above and beyond. At this point you're in the hands of the magistrate and I can't help feeling it's their opinion that matters so it can go either way.
- Many hours of research, revisiting location, taking measurements, talking to council officers, preparing evidence, preparing and submitting paperwork, A lot of work goes into fighting a fine and if you don't put in the work you probably won't win.
- The general advice is to simply pay the fine and accept it as another way we are being taxed.
The last fine we paid was for a red light camera infringement. Even though the timing for the orange turn light is set below the standard of 3 seconds and thousands of people are getting fined, it's just easier not to fight the system. I requested a review which of course was just discarded even though video evidence was provided. Any system has it's flaws but once it's part of the government's system the energy needed to correct wrongs is far more than it's worth. For me whilst technically the fine should be dismissed as the camera is not working to specification, a magistrate could end up saying the time difference wouldn't have affected the outcome.
For me it's better to produce a map of mobile phone cameras so people can make sure when they approach such a camera they and their passengers are not holding anything that such flawed technology might think is a device. Yes even your passenger. You can get booked if your passenger's screen is visible to you as the driver.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.SpeedCameraLocations.com.au
PS. There's always a chance I'm wrong in my reviewing of the picture but that's what I see in the picture.
PS. I also have a friend that was pulled over by police and accused of using a mobile phone whilst driving who had their hand to their face. Not sure if they were scratching their face or rubbing their eye. So it isn't just technology that can get this wrong but the outcome can be the same.
