A friend of mine recently got caught for speeding on a country road about an hour outside of Sydney. What he did not realise at the time is that it was the Easter holiday and consequently copped double demerits and fees.
There are laws in Australia where the States charge you with double fines and demerits during certain long holidays. When I first arrived in this country it was briefly explained to me as a way to reduce the number of traffic accidents, since more drivers would be on the roads during these particular periods- well perhaps not more drivers, but certainly more drivers travelling longer distances than normal. Fair enough.
To illustrate how this rather unusual law is applied let’s picture the following:
My friend Joe and I leave our houses at 11pm heading down to the coast to celebrate Christmas. Since I live 5 minutes further away, Joe should in theory arrive 5 minutes before me. At midnight that same evening, the ‘long weekend’ starts and the double demerits and double fees scheme comes into effect.
Joe who is keen to get there puts his foot down just a bit too much and is caught doing 14 kilometres over the speed-limit at 11.57pm. He subsequently loses 3 points off his licence and receives a $79 fine.
Only 5 minutes later at 12.02am I pass the same police radar doing exactly the same speed as Joe was, only now the ‘long weekend’ rules apply. Consequently I lose 6 points and receive a $158 fine! Same crime, different punishment!
Although I personally don’t like to use the word ‘discrimination’, one can wonder whether it wouldn’t be appropriate in this instance. Why should one be punished harder for speeding one day but not the other? I recently read that shoplifting increases by over 1,000 per cent during the month of December, however, I do not believe the punishment for shoplifting is any more severe then than, for example, during the month of August.
Where is the logic?
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