Is it easy to loose youre drivers license in Australia for speeding?

[Hendry]

Moved over here recently (round the ACT) and I can drive on my U.S. license but eventually I will have to get an Australia drivers licence (am a citizen of both) My aunt always complains about how many points she has on her license and seems pretty obsessed about speed cameras and not speeding, the funny thing is she drives like a snail compared to the way I am used to driving back around philadelphia where there are no speed cameras and it's relatively easy not to lose your license due to speeding ie in Pennsylvania the points are cleared after 6 months. One time I got pulled over doing 107 mph ( 172 kph) I could have easily lost my license on the spot but the cop was nice and wrote me up for 80 mph (128 k) the ticket was for 240 ish I was lucky to drive away. Usually I don't drive nearly as fast that was a one off but seeing my aunt drive so cautiously and hearing how she gets busted by the speed cameras worries me. The car will be registered in my name. Would it be better to use the U.S. license until i get used to driving around these parts? Wonder if the points still could be added to my name even without having a aussie license. Is is this strict or is my aunt crazy. I want to avoid driving a bike. What would you do?

[ThunderIdeal]

try to go easy man, i live permanently on the brink of license destruction (at the best of times!). i'd try to keep the american license but i dunno if it will help you, you need to go into the transport department and ask them (or ring them), you might have a few months before you're required to get a local license.

[mac]

This may be relevant , im going by NSW laws im sure the ACT would be the same as its within NSW ? you can look most up on the RTA webpages

Demerit points will double during holiday periods & long weekends etc....

What if I hold a licence from another state or territory and commit a driving offence in NSW?

Details of demerit point offences committed in NSW will be sent to your home state and included on your driving record. If you exceed 12 or more points in a three-year period, the RTA may withdraw your right to drive in NSW.

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/rulesregulations...point_faqs.html

Edited June 22, 2009 by mac

[J Smith]

In Canberra you get 12 points over 3 years. Earn/lose 12 points in a 3 year period and you lose your license for 3 months. Be careful, a lot of the lights in Canberra have combination red light/speeding cameras. You speed up to get through an orange light and you get done for speeding. You don't speed up and end up going through a red light.

http://www.rego.act.gov.au/infringements/infringedemerit.htm

You earn the following points for the following behaviour.

Exceeding the speed limit by 45 km/h or more 6 points

Exceeding the speed limit by 30 km/h, but less than 45 km/h 4 points

Disobeying a traffic signal 3 points

Disobeying major regulatory traffic control sign or Police directing traffic 3 points

Failing to give way 3 points

Failing to stop and/or give way at pedestrian, school or level crossing 3 points

Driving with unrestrained passengers under legal age including children and infants 3 points

Driving contrary to a major defect notice 3 points

Driving on wrong side of double lines or divided highway 3 points

Exceeding the speed limit by 15 km/h but less than 30 km/h 3 points

Driving without seat belt 3 points

Motorcyclists not wearing a helmet 3 points

Careless/negligent driving 3 points

Using a Hand Held Mobile Phone while driving 3 points

Improper overtaking and passing 2 points

Turning or stopping without signalling 2 points

Turning improperly 2 points

Failing to keep left 2 points

Driving contrary to a minor defect notice 2 points

Failure to dip headlamps 1 point

Following too closely 1 point

Driving at night without headlamps on 1 point

Exceeding the speed limit by less than 15 km/h 1 point

[Uncle. S]

Actually its pretty easy to keep your licence here in Australia. Just follow this simple rule: DONT SPEED YOU FUCKING WANKER.

I hope the next time you drive at 170 you drive straight off a bridge so that your no longer selfishly endangering the lives of every other driver or pedestrian around you.

[Hendry]

Actually its pretty easy to keep your licence here in Australia. Just follow this simple rule: DONT SPEED YOU FUCKING WANKER.

I hope the next time you drive at 170 you drive straight off a bridge so that your no longer selfishly endangering the lives of every other driver or pedestrian around you.

Jesus saw a crowd chasing down a woman to stone her and approached them. "What's going on here, anyway?" he asked.

"This woman was found committing adultery and the law says we should stone her!" one of the crowd responded.

"Wait," yelled Jesus, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Suddenly, a huge stone was thrown from out of the sky, and knocked the woman on the side of her head,a river of blood poured from her shattered skull.

The crowd parted revealing the Virgin Mary

" Jesus Mom your always budgeing in!"

Edited June 22, 2009 by Hendry

[Hedonix]

Moved over here recently (round the ACT) and I can drive on my U.S. license but eventually I will have to get an Australia drivers licence (am a citizen of both) My aunt always complains about how many points she has on her license and seems pretty obsessed about speed cameras and not speeding, the funny thing is she drives like a snail compared to the way I am used to driving back around philadelphia where there are no speed cameras and it's relatively easy not to lose your license due to speeding ie in Pennsylvania the points are cleared after 6 months. One time I got pulled over doing 107 mph ( 172 kph) I could have easily lost my license on the spot but the cop was nice and wrote me up for 80 mph (128 k) the ticket was for 240 ish I was lucky to drive away. Usually I don't drive nearly as fast that was a one off but seeing my aunt drive so cautiously and hearing how she gets busted by the speed cameras worries me. The car will be registered in my name. Would it be better to use the U.S. license until i get used to driving around these parts? Wonder if the points still could be added to my name even without having a aussie license. Is is this strict or is my aunt crazy. I want to avoid driving a bike. What would you do?

I know a few poms who came over and drive on their UK license and for some reason they have this smarmy attitude and think that they are exempt from losing points... one douchebag told me he couldnt even be booked when holding a uk license lol... you may not have points deducted but you won't be able to apply for an AU license if you mess up bad enough.

[Hendry]

I know a few poms who came over and drive on their UK license and for some reason they have this smarmy attitude and think that they are exempt from losing points... one douchebag told me he couldnt even be booked when holding a uk license lol... you may not have points deducted but you won't be able to apply for an AU license if you mess up bad enough.

I am living here now, and as such I plan to conduct myself well within the confines of all federal, state and local ordinances. I adopt the attitude that any attempt by myself to transcend such legislative confines shall result in my immediate incarceration in the bootyhouse, regardless of weather on not that may be the case. I appreciate the helpful suggestions and assure you that I will be motoring at a safe and responsible fashion keeping an keen eye peeled for any unforeseen road hazards that may arise during my commute. The only attitude I possess is one of respect for the law and more importantly one of respect for the well being of my fellow Australian motorists.

Thanks guys

Edited June 22, 2009 by Hendry

[santiago]

Its an easy answer actually, Hendry what you need to do is get yourself a really crappy car and cheap, maybe an old ford or a old sigma or a little barina or similar, not to crap but maybe a little 2K price or lower, you will become so used to driving it that you will realise that essentially its just a mode of transportation and why would you want to spend any more on a car than is minimum required, becoming so scared of spending $250 on typical service automatically you psychologically suspend yourself and your own motives from speeding as simply its costing you too many dollars in wear and tear and fuel.

[ThunderIdeal]

drive safely.

and when you see a cop or camera, obey the arbitrary number on the red and white sign.

[Legba]

Put something on the steering wheel to remind you to keep left.

You can have your license canceled for not paying fines.

Be courteous. Some people carry weapons to cause harm to other drivers and need little provocation to react.

The ability to avoid idiots is inversely proportional to the square of your speed

[Hedonix]

Its an easy answer actually, Hendry what you need to do is get yourself a really crappy car and cheap, maybe an old ford or a old sigma or a little barina or similar, not to crap but maybe a little 2K price or lower, you will become so used to driving it that you will realise that essentially its just a mode of transportation and why would you want to spend any more on a car than is minimum required, becoming so scared of spending $250 on typical service automatically you psychologically suspend yourself and your own motives from speeding as simply its costing you too many dollars in wear and tear and fuel.

I wouldnt go too crappy... nor would i recommend buying a sigma or a barina... go an older model toyota.camry.corolla.. cheap as chips and spare parts in the millions... yes indeed it is just transport from a-b.... but you probably want to do that in a car that won't break down or cost you more than it's worth to fix it.

or you could buy a tripple rotor twin turbo... the amount of fuel 1 squit on the peddal will suck out should be a speed deterant in one of them bad boys. jks.. that's ridiculous. get a camry... with a tissue box and straw hat on the parcel shelf ;)

[Hendry]

Some people carry weapons to cause harm to other drivers and need little provocation to react.

I hear ya. In Philadelphia it is similar pulling over, following or confronting people with road rage is a good way to die.

link

Live and let live

I plan on having this device installed in the car as an added layer of safety

 

[Hendry]

I wouldnt go too crappy

I may already have ,Hedonix. How about an 07' Holden Viva lol I don't think speeding will be as much of an issue with this car as it was with my U.S. Toyota 4-runner or 94' SC-400.

[FancyPants]

Actually its pretty easy to keep your licence here in Australia. Just follow this simple rule: DONT SPEED YOU FUCKING WANKER.

I hope the next time you drive at 170 you drive straight off a bridge so that your no longer selfishly endangering the lives of every other driver or pedestrian around you.

Bolded I don't agree with. The rest I tend to agree; that speeding tickets are a voluntary payment because a person chose to speed.

BUT. Apologies in advance for the swearing, but I've honestly kept to as minimal as my anger and frustration will allow:

This year I have had nothing but hassles with my licence mostly because my old flatmate who is currently paying off buying my old car, had run a SPEED CAMERA THREE FUCKING TIMES. The car is still in my name and thus the fines came to me. It says on the penalty notice that as soon as you pay the fine the demerits will be put on your licence. As was my understanding. Nowhere does it say that if you do not pay the fine, and you receive a late fee notice, the demerits will be assigned anyway. My flatmate had since moved to country NSW and wasn't in a fixed address so it was hard to send him the fine and statutory declaration for him to fill out. Let it be said I wasn't really angry with him the first time because I've had my own speeding tickets so I won't be a hypocrite. Also my mail is delivered downstairs in the garage where I can't get in to get the mail so I have to ask someone else to do it - cos I'm in a wheelchair. Out of sight, out of mind for my mail... Added to that, it's not just any old chemist who can sign stat decs now so you have to go to the courthouse or luck out in finding a Justice of the Peace. Many solicitors have offices up huge flights of stairs, in my area anyway. So while trying to work all that out, the late fees come in and the 3 demerits each from the first two times are added to my licence. My licence was suspended this year Jan, because nearly 3 years ago I had got a ticket while driving north up the pacific highway. Fair enough I won't ever bitch about an offence I caused... I'll break this up for easier reading...

Then last year as well some fuckwit pulled straight out into traffic in front of the car ahead of me so we all slammed on brakes and I ended up hitting the poor lady in front of me. I was going less than 50kph in a 60 zone and not tailgating at all - as the lady I hit even said to the coppers. The fuckwit got off scot free because he sped off. My car was crumpled up front and I couldn't even shut the front doors or take the car out of Drive. The poor woman had had shoulder surgery 3 weeks before and the seatbelt slam had made it hurt so much she could hardly move at first. I was petrified I'd killed her. I was alright, just a bit of an aching shoulder from slamming on the hand-controls. Later I learned my tyres were pretty worn (but not illegal at that point) so that's probably why I ended up not brakin in time despite reacting immediately. She was OK though and ended up giving me a lift home because my car had to be towed - over $8K damage insurance paid. But because I had hit the car in front, I got the 3 demerits for traffic infringement. Even the nice cop said it happens all the time and there were other witnesses who vouched for what happened. At the time I didn't even care about that because I was just glad we were both OK, and at that point the other licence shit hadn't gotten bad yet.

So that's all 12 demerits within 3 years and bye bye licence. Even in Sydney it's pretty shitty to catch public transport in a 'chair, especially in my area where it's crap anyway. I need my licence and car. I had to get a good behaviour form from RTA. So I started trying to get it sorted by appealing the fine which takes 8-10 weeks. My auntie told me she'd work it out pretty quickly and easily so I left it to her. She forgot about it. Then ex flatmate got the third speed camera fine, straight to me again while I packed shit thinking if that's counted now while on a good behaviour form I'm fucked for 1 year no licence nothing to do about it. Around 2 months ago I finally got the stat decs and appeal papers signed (again by JP or some other douchebag hiding under a rock) and sent off plus $50 admin fees for both. Two weeks after that I got letters from SDRO (state debt recovery) saying my appeals were denied because I didn't write some BS to answer a question which may as well have been written in Hungarian (the SDRO chick I spoke to agreed with me and says it always catches every up - WELL WHY DON'T THEY FUCKING MAKE IT CLEARER???). So I redo them both, send them back off, and a week after that I FINALLY get the all-clear that they were suspending the penalty and sending it to exflatmate. Yippee kay YAY. IN the meantime, the third stat dec has been sent off to hopefully clear that one too, but I have yet to hear about that one. 8-10 weeks my crippled fanny.

Alls well that ends well? Not fucking likely. Sometime around early May when talking to SDRO about some damn thing they informed me that my licence was still suspended because of the initial unpaid late fee fines!!! The ones I didn't want to pay because that's admitting liability. So SDRO bleats about not getting $130 or whatever the hell it was from SOMEBODY and puts the suspension on my licence which meant the good behaviour form was null anyway and I'd been driving since January on NO licence. I had been SO good while on that form (still am obviously) because you essentially have no points - like a learner licence. I cried on the phone out of sheer frustration. She told me since all the other stuff was being sorted I may as well pay the fine money to lift that.

There is actually more after that point but I've got a headache now and I just dont' feel like whingeing anymore. In any case, in some circumstances it can be extremely easy to lose your licence so that's what I'm getting at.

[Hedonix]

Bolded I don't agree with. The rest I tend to agree; that speeding tickets are a voluntary payment because a person chose to speed.

BUT. Apologies in advance for the swearing, but I've honestly kept to as minimal as my anger and frustration will allow:

This year I have had nothing but hassles with my licence mostly because my old flatmate who is currently paying off buying my old car, had run a SPEED CAMERA THREE FUCKING TIMES. The car is still in my name and thus the fines came to me. It says on the penalty notice that as soon as you pay the fine the demerits will be put on your licence. As was my understanding. Nowhere does it say that if you do not pay the fine, and you receive a late fee notice, the demerits will be assigned anyway. My flatmate had since moved to country NSW and wasn't in a fixed address so it was hard to send him the fine and statutory declaration for him to fill out. Let it be said I wasn't really angry with him the first time because I've had my own speeding tickets so I won't be a hypocrite. Also my mail is delivered downstairs in the garage where I can't get in to get the mail so I have to ask someone else to do it - cos I'm in a wheelchair. Out of sight, out of mind for my mail... Added to that, it's not just any old chemist who can sign stat decs now so you have to go to the courthouse or luck out in finding a Justice of the Peace. Many solicitors have offices up huge flights of stairs, in my area anyway. So while trying to work all that out, the late fees come in and the 3 demerits each from the first two times are added to my licence. My licence was suspended this year Jan, because nearly 3 years ago I had got a ticket while driving north up the pacific highway. Fair enough I won't ever bitch about an offence I caused... I'll break this up for easier reading...

Then last year as well some fuckwit pulled straight out into traffic in front of the car ahead of me so we all slammed on brakes and I ended up hitting the poor lady in front of me. I was going less than 50kph in a 60 zone and not tailgating at all - as the lady I hit even said to the coppers. The fuckwit got off scot free because he sped off. My car was crumpled up front and I couldn't even shut the front doors or take the car out of Drive. The poor woman had had shoulder surgery 3 weeks before and the seatbelt slam had made it hurt so much she could hardly move at first. I was petrified I'd killed her. I was alright, just a bit of an aching shoulder from slamming on the hand-controls. Later I learned my tyres were pretty worn (but not illegal at that point) so that's probably why I ended up not brakin in time despite reacting immediately. She was OK though and ended up giving me a lift home because my car had to be towed - over $8K damage insurance paid. But because I had hit the car in front, I got the 3 demerits for traffic infringement. Even the nice cop said it happens all the time and there were other witnesses who vouched for what happened. At the time I didn't even care about that because I was just glad we were both OK, and at that point the other licence shit hadn't gotten bad yet.

So that's all 12 demerits within 3 years and bye bye licence. Even in Sydney it's pretty shitty to catch public transport in a 'chair, especially in my area where it's crap anyway. I need my licence and car. I had to get a good behaviour form from RTA. So I started trying to get it sorted by appealing the fine which takes 8-10 weeks. My auntie told me she'd work it out pretty quickly and easily so I left it to her. She forgot about it. Then ex flatmate got the third speed camera fine, straight to me again while I packed shit thinking if that's counted now while on a good behaviour form I'm fucked for 1 year no licence nothing to do about it. Around 2 months ago I finally got the stat decs and appeal papers signed (again by JP or some other douchebag hiding under a rock) and sent off plus $50 admin fees for both. Two weeks after that I got letters from SDRO (state debt recovery) saying my appeals were denied because I didn't write some BS to answer a question which may as well have been written in Hungarian (the SDRO chick I spoke to agreed with me and says it always catches every up - WELL WHY DON'T THEY FUCKING MAKE IT CLEARER???). So I redo them both, send them back off, and a week after that I FINALLY get the all-clear that they were suspending the penalty and sending it to exflatmate. Yippee kay YAY. IN the meantime, the third stat dec has been sent off to hopefully clear that one too, but I have yet to hear about that one. 8-10 weeks my crippled fanny.

Alls well that ends well? Not fucking likely. Sometime around early May when talking to SDRO about some damn thing they informed me that my licence was still suspended because of the initial unpaid late fee fines!!! The ones I didn't want to pay because that's admitting liability. So SDRO bleats about not getting $130 or whatever the hell it was from SOMEBODY and puts the suspension on my licence which meant the good behaviour form was null anyway and I'd been driving since January on NO licence. I had been SO good while on that form (still am obviously) because you essentially have no points - like a learner licence. I cried on the phone out of sheer frustration. She told me since all the other stuff was being sorted I may as well pay the fine money to lift that.

There is actually more after that point but I've got a headache now and I just dont' feel like whingeing anymore. In any case, in some circumstances it can be extremely easy to lose your licence so that's what I'm getting at.

sorry to hear that.. hope it all gets sorted out nicely for you fancypants...the thing is with the law.. they just don't give a damn.and it's not the kind of world we should be living in.. they don't care about us. and they have police to "serve and Protect" cops have never protected me from anything... they are simply revenue collection officers with a poor education and no other direction in life. They are brainwashed and pick on the masses (their families included) to serve what? the Queen!?! fuck that..

i wonder how many cops will continue to fight for the new world order when the masses start hunting them down. viva la revolution! They can start protecting us by securing our food from GMO's, antibiotics, pesticides.. etc making it ORGANIC.... stop dumping thousands of tonns of chems in our skies daily...tell us who the richest people in the world are!!! perhaps?! sure as hell isnt oprah or bill gates.. it's the bilderbergs and the 13 ruling blood lines.... we are all being lied to.. do your research. if you havn't already. does anyone know what kind of terrible effect ROundup has for the earth?? and they tell us BT cotton is "green" Bullshit!!!!

[ThunderIdeal]

awww gee fancypants... it's bureaucracy gone mad isn't it? some shit is so stressful to deal with and it just doesn't need to be that way. your story reminds me of centrelink a bit (off topic but they always fuck up somehow and that always becomes the claimants problem rather than their problem).

[Light&Love]

Ive heard that drivers from international countries can apply for an international drivers license, apparently all you need is a foreign passport and citizenship, and this license does not take points off you, instead you just pay fines, so you cannot lose the license unless you do something stupid like drink-driving. I'm not 100% sure about the truth to this, but its worth checking out for those in that position.

Peace

[Legba]

There is a time limit on driving on an international license as well as insurance issues. Check the RTA website for details on the time limit which is in weeks, several months maybe, not years.