OzVMX Forum
Clubroom => General Discussion => Topic started by: vandy010 on April 08, 2008, 02:23:35 am
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so who's been busted?
a mate fronted up to work with the news he's been caught giving his CR a test run out front of his own house. less than 100metres of test run has cost him almost $500 QLD dollars and then he also has to appear in court.
i remember {but not too well apparently} an article in one of the magazines a few years back, fines 'V' joining a club. in this case, club membeship,rec liscense and practice fee wouldn't of tally'd the fine.
so thats QLD,
anyone from the other states care to comment?
and any other thoughts you may have folks?
go for it...
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I've never been fined for that, although I have been caught riding unregistered a few times. Each time I was told to push it home, which of course I did only until the copper was out of sight. Nowadays I just wouldn't take the risk, living in the burbs of a reasonable sized city. Like your mate found out, just too expensive if you get caught. Mind you, the guy over the road doesn't worry as he rides his Harley up to the shop and his 8 year old son rides alongside on some sort of mini Harley electric bike...
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wow that really sucks vandy but it is the law I guess. Needs to be steep to deter the younger riders on minibike/pit bikes and the likes. I have to admit I'm guilty also but not recently. It's hard when you get your bike together and simply wish to run it up a quiet road or footpath to test brakes, gears and get a feel for what else needs tweaking or what you may have forgotten to tighten that falls off :o Problem is, if you/I ride it around your/my own backyard you and I get in the shit too! We must fight for our freedom and hold our large heads high! Then we best join a club before we all get our asses busted! :o tough break for your mate :-\
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i was done twice for riding unrego'd uninsured as a teenager growing up in mt kuring-gai (northern outskirts of sydney). each time hurt my then-tiny wallet bigtime and pissed me off even more. all that petrol money down the drain!!! you just never knew when you'd turn a corner on the trail (ok, or backroad/street) to find a cop waiting there with a grin on his ugly mug ready to bust you. they take their time telling you what you done wrong, what law its against (make you answer their pratty question, 'did you realise it was against the law to ride without a licence etc etc etc?' - such a drag. then they make you push miles home. i hated cops for a long time after that, for their bloody vindictiveness to us little sprogs just trying to put some fun in our outer-suburban 70s existence.
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I got caught doing a plug chop on my Bultaco Metralla, the cop wasn't happy but he did concede that "at least your wearing a helmet"
It was at this point, as he began to take out his notebook, that a dickhead in a V8 ute pulled into the round-about and arced it up the full 180 around only to see the cop with his hand up saying "STOP" the ute roared off and the cop hopped back on his bike and took off after him, I simply started the bully and rode the 60 metres home without the summons ;D ;D ;D
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A bunch of us used to go trailriding at Lue (now called Louee) in the early eighties and one of the blokes had a pantec truck that would take about 12 bikes, so we had to drop the bikes off in the week leading up to the ride then pick it up afterwards. One time after a ride I got my mum to drive me the 4 or 5 kms around to his place then I would just ride the bike home. Bike at the time was a KDX250 with all the road gear and a number plate still on it... no problem.
Wouldn't you know it, a highway patrol car just happened to pull up behind me, followed me for about two blocks and just had to find something to get me for. No mirrors. He pulled me over to give a warning but scored the trifecta ... unregistered, uninsured and unlicenced.
Probably didn't help when mum pulled up started telling him what a good boy I was and this was the first time I had ever done anything wrong.
Didn't bother riding on the road again after that.
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I scored a 2nd hand DT 175 bush basher and took it for a blat around a new estate back in '79.
As it happens a mate was working on a new house in the estate so I gave him a turn on the 'new' bike.
At the exact moment he handed it back and I threw my leg over the bike, a Cop car flew around the corner and sprung me (at the speed and urgency they arrived I'm sure we were dobbed in).
Bloody Hell! what crap timing.
I think it was an $80 fine for 'unregistered bike on public road' or words to that effect.
I still have the summons in a photo album.
The funniest part of the 'arrest' was this gem from one of the Coppers:
"There's been lots of pistons stolen from bikes around here - that's why we're cracking down".
WTF; I don't think he knew much about bikes...
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$900.00 in NSW,
Son took the unrego postie down to the pizza shop on the foot path because he figured he was to drunk to
drive ::)lucky he didn't get breath tested as well,
Noel
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Never been fined. Something to do with not riding in/near the 'burbs making a big difference, no doubt.
Got caught riding on water catchment once about 10 years ago, but it was a genuine mistake on my part, and I only ended up with a warning.
It was a bit funny actually - I was riding under a power-line easement when I went past an unmarked ute that was parked off to one side. Weird, but no worries.
About 200m further along, an unmarked Landcruiser pulls out in front of me.
WTF! My first thought was that he was some nutbag hillbilly, so I was about to make for the bush, when I heard him yelling something about being a cop-type-person.
I was actually relieved that he wasn't a random nutter, and stopped.
Ended up having a perfectly amicable chat with the bloke - including him explaining that the ute was there to stop people who try to do a runner - and he wasn't interested in pursuing it further...
The fine for riding in water catchment is (was?) $10k.... I also vaguely know a bloke who was riding a then-new KTM520 and had a head-on with another bike. They both got choppered out, and both bikes were rooted.
And they both got stung with the $10k fine.
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$10K Nathan??!! How lucky are you?!
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seen our local copper the other week take his kids who were riding pw50s across the road from his house to another dirt road with no houses around it..weirdest part about it.....the kids were wearing thongs ???....
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$10K Nathan??!! How lucky are you?!
Well, pretty lucky, but it's not a scary as it sounds - their policy is/was to give people warnings, and only fine them on the second time or if they were total dicks.
Bike was rego'd and I was licenced, FWIW. I don't know, but I don't think that unreg/unlicenced would have made any difference in this case.
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$10K Nathan??!! How lucky are you?!
Well, pretty lucky, but it's not a scary as it sounds - their policy is/was to give people warnings, and only fine them on the second time or if they were total dicks.
Bike was rego'd and I was licenced, FWIW. I don't know, but I don't think that unreg/unlicenced would have made any difference in this case.
Trespass on catchment was $10,000 max back in the 70's but $1000 was generally the first offence fine (which would be $10,000 today given relative purchase power/wages). The max fine is $100,000 today and with that magic word 'terrorism' 'they' are much more active.
During the 70's and the trail riding boom it was common practice to have a light plane flying over the catchment on week ends and guiding rangers to the 'bad boys'. I've always kept off catchment for this and other 'social conscience' reasons.
Proving 'trespass' in law is fairly difficult. 'They' have got prove intent and/or that you refuse to leave when asked (being a total dick) - that would explain the 'warning'. Once a warning has been given proving intent is a lot easier second time around.
Be careful, there's a new offence called 'enter upon enclosed lands' - it is much easier to prove in law - caught doing the deed and offence commited - no fuss no mess in court for the rangers and no excuses for you >:(.
I got done unreg'd etc when I unwittingly drove a company ute unreg'd etc - $1300 first offence in NSW (the company paid ;)). I've test ridden the occasional race bike in the street on the occasional saturday night last minute prep, but minimal and never sprung ::).
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You have to love growing up in small outback towns. A couple of mates and I got busted riding around the town common on unregistered bikes back in the late 70's. The solicitor got use off for a first time offience. Then we had to take our bikes out to the solicitor's sheepstation and muster sheep all week-end instead of paying him for getting us off the hook :) Darcy
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Back in the early 80s two mates and I snuck into the Burragorang Valley, Warragamba Dam catchment area and had one of the most amazing fire trail rides I've ever had. We were attempting to ride through from the old Oakdale Colliery to Oberon but were busted by Water Board employees and park rangers in a well orchestrated ambush just after Yeranderie ghost town. One mate attempted to escape through the bush but the Water Board helicopter tracked him and he was soon rounded up. We went to court a few months later and shit ourselves when a couple of blokes who had been searching for ancient Aboriginal cave drawings in the same area copped a 5k fine each. I don't know why but by the time the magistrate got to our case he must have softened up a bit and we only copped a $50 fine each. We went straight to the pub after getting out of court and sunk quite a few schooners to celebrate our unbelievable luck.
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speaking of unbelievable luck,
same mates already been to court {quicker than a murder trial} and the judge was in a good mood and reduced the fine to $200.
as i understand it, in QLD its $180min for unregistered and $300min for uninsured.
so thats a minimum of $480. he wasn;t wearing a helmet either but the cops let that one go.
makes me think twice about giving it a quick tune up the street.
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Actually $480 isn't too bad. When you think about how much rego costs each year and weigh that out with how often you might get caught. You might actually come out ahead. Losing points would be the only downfall.
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as a rough comparison,
club memebership=$40ish
recreation liscence=$100ish
practise fee =$20ish
which adds up to around the $160 mark
but having said all that, i too am guilty of giving my bikes a quick run up the street.
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I don't know why but by the time the magistrate got to our case he must have softened up a bit and we only copped a $50 fine each.
Freaking hell ya an arsey B Firko ;D. Especially after one of you tried the Harold Holt and there were multiple rangers and a chopper involved.
Hear stories like this and you wonder about a court system. I know a story of 10 guys having a blokey w.e. up at the Pines behind Clarence. Hired 10 bikes from Sullivan's and just low level dirt fun in a limited area around the Pines. Trail Bike Squad turns up points out the legal situation. Blokes; 'shit, didn't realise, we'll pack up and go home'. Cops; 'good idea, take this $1300 fine with ya! (x 10)' :-[
I wasn't involved and barely know the guys but it still pisses me off to think the 'system' treats the citizens this way.
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In 1978 my ride to school was an H2750, I was riding to my girlfriend Jennys house and poped a wheely at the St Ives lights and as it clicked 4th on the back wheel an XB Cop car came out on the other side of the street. So what does a dumb 17yo do in this case? After a few minutes of trying to out run said yellow XB cop car and speeds in excess of 85 miles an hour I just couldnt shake him and got held up in traffic out front of the St Ives show grounds so I decided to give it up and pull over.
When the cops got out they basicaly arrested me and locked me up at Pymble Police station, did the finger print thing, threats, even had the pink pages on standby - to say I was shitting myself was an understatement. I was charged with unlicenced, unrego, failing to stop, manner dangerous. It took untill about 8pm that night for Mum to come and bail me out, the old Man was O/S at the time.
Off to court we went and before the Judge had a chance to say a word the Old Man jumped up and suggested that he had no concerns about whatever penality that was applied but suggested that the sale of the bike and the money received would be a good financial package and the Judge agreed so it was a court order that I sell the bike and the money went in the fine. All $380.00 I got for it - I shit you not. Also 18 months loss of licence in the mix.
The upshot of it all was it took me years to really realise how short my life expectations were if I had have kept the thing so the Old Man really did me a favour and we still have a laugh about today, I think at 47 I am sensible enough to have an H2750 now but cant buy one for less than 10k.
It was a mad mad world in the 70s in Sydney. Really amoungst it all I think I lament the loss of that time - feel - vibe when you could get away so lightly and live to tell the tail!!!
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In keeping with the stolen bikes/insurance thing I remember a story where the Cops lack of knowledge did them out of an arrest:
A mate of a mate told how the Police called at his shared house one night and proceeded to look around. Apparently a Kawasaki dirt bike had been stolen in the area and they were looking for it.
One Copper looked under a bed and pulled out a triple clamp (the triple clamp from the stolen bike).
"So what's this?" he asked.
"That's a steering dampener for a HQ Holden" was the grubs reply.
and the Copper put it back - apparently he knew nothing about bikes...