anyone see "motorcycle cops" tv show, last night?

[RetroPilot]

I hope the esteemed vicpol officer who booked me for wearing a wide-hat instead of helmet in January this year, at 2pm on a 39Deg day, was watching...two cyclists not wearing helmets minutes apart, were simply told to get off and walk by NSW officers, who could have written both of them up for $330 apparently .. (actually the Irishman I myself would have booked, because he actually walked out potentially into path of traffic, and because wearing headphones on bike, which is actually the mark of a dimwit who is a danger to himself and others imo)...but neither rider offered any particularly artful excuse

Still have not heard any more on my offence, which I elected to defend...last correspondence I had on it was March or April..I imagine that if they are no longer proceeding, I'd have to be advised?

[MichaelB]

And ...

[Ross]

Yeah I saw the show. As much as it is against my better judgement to ride with headphones AFIK it's not actually against the law so people are free to do that if they want to, the cop needn't of mentioned it.

I guess the cop was using his discretion because the rider was visiting from o/s and claimed not to know about helmet laws. I can sympathise somewhat, as I was visiting from Canberra and riding through Rundle Mall in Adelaide (at walking pace) a couple of years ago and was literally pulled from my bike by an overzealous cop - illegal to ride on footpaths in SA, apparently, though I think the law has changed now? I asked him how I was expected to know this as there were no signs anywhere

[RetroPilot]

no,i know that headphones on bikes are not illegal, but it is so criminally stupid imo that it would have removed my discretion on the helmet offence. I'd have just, "oh, look, no hat, barge and wobble into path of traffic without looking(and headphones!!!, you nong) here, take this on the helmet at least.
Good chance he is back in Ireland presently without paying anyway.
Yes, the fact that he was o/s may well have factored in, but that is weak too imo, because I have sold many many bikes to the o/s backpacker demographic, and they were all aware of the helmet law by the time they got to that point.
Personally I would rate the headphones as a worse safety liability than no helmet.

the other helmetless rider coming other way, he did not even stop to confront...just communicated to them in shouts and hand signals, to either get off the bike, or he would get off his and bill them.

[RetroPilot]

And ...

or..

[Bunged Knee]

If anyone missed this programme, it will repeat it again tonight on channel 7.

[RetroPilot]

on another note, I did not like what he did to the bloke with the dropside tray ute with the boxes sitting in it...that was ludicrous.

"oh, they could bounce out if you, err, hit a pothole or something, here's a $400 ticket unsecured load"
!! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! off.

[Mugglechops]

I was glad he fined him. I wouldn't want to get hit by anything that flew out of the back of ute.

[Philistine]

I imagine that if they are no longer proceeding, I'd have to be advised?

Don't count on it. I was done for speeding out in the country a couple of years ago. It was such an absolute crock that I decided to defend it. I rang the court house (at Parkes) on the Friday before the Monday on which I was due to appear, to find out the actual time I needed to be there, and they then informed me that the police were not proceeding. I never heard a word from the police themselves, and I doubt if I would have heard from the court officers if I had not called them.

[RetroPilot]

thanks...i was wondering how that would work if they did drop it...but I'd have assumed there would have to be an official paper notice to that effect, even if it was sent too late to save you from rocking up.

I'm not even up to the point where they give me a court-date.

Cop who did me rang me in March/April...(which I found strange in itself) that conversation became snippier the further it went, but, the intent of it was, that if I was not paying up and wanted to have it heard, then so be it..

silence ever since.

[RetroPilot]

I was glad he fined him. I wouldn't want to get hit by anything that flew out of the back of ute.

given the shape and nature of the load, and the fact it was not being carried in a flat vehicle without sides, I'd call it practically ludicrous..."oh, they could bounce out on a pothole" is far fetched at best. They looked like printed material boxes, unlikely to be a blow-off risk, and the fact that they are equal to or lower in height to the sides and gate just makes them something that is both difficult to even deploy rope and angles onto, as well as virtually unnecessary..at most, he could have ordered him to tie them...he was joking with his mate about how ridiculous the penalty amount was.
He described himself as an 'ex-truckie"...i wonder if there was even some agenda there...when you have been in courier in small vehicles 1-2Tonne, you soon pick up that some of the big vehicle drivers have got some kind of casual hard-on for you..the driver took it way better than I would have.
For years I ran around with loads exactly resembling that particular one in nature and magnitude, sitting on in that particular situation...I never lost one, and no cop ever hassled me about it.
It's not that I never secured anything, I had ropes/angles/binders on board coming out my wazoo...it's just that, like that...na. Bull****.

[MichaelB]

My “and” comment/reply was about whether you think you were justified in breaking the law (whether it is a sensible law or not is beside the point) and harshly dealt with when the officer chose not to “let you off with a warning”.

Meh. You chose a course of action, so you must then also be able to accept the potential consequences.

It seems the officer in your case, for whatever reason, chose not to exercise his right to provide a warning.

[DrShifty]

on another note, I did not like what he did to the bloke with the dropside tray ute with the boxes sitting in it...that was ludicrous.

"oh, they could bounce out if you, err, hit a pothole or something, here's a $400 ticket unsecured load"
!! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! off.

A friend of mine out near Bathurst was telling me that the local coppers are very zealous about the covered load laws. A building apprentice friend of his was booked for driving his ute with his work boots unsecured in the back, complete with heavy fine. So he and his mates have used roofing screws to fasten old boots in the tray of their utes, hoping they get picked up by the same copper.

[RetroPilot]

A building apprentice friend of his was booked for driving his ute with his work boots unsecured in the back, complete with heavy fine.

insanity.

screwing them down, is funny..

[gorilla monsoon]

I was glad he fined him. I wouldn't want to get hit by anything that flew out of the back of ute.

given the shape and nature of the load, and the fact it was not being carried in a flat vehicle without sides, I'd call it practically ludicrous..."oh, they could bounce out on a pothole" is far fetched at best. They looked like printed material boxes, unlikely to be a blow-off risk, and the fact that they are equal to or lower in height to the sides and gate just makes them something that is both difficult to even deploy rope and angles onto, as well as virtually unnecessary..at most, he could have ordered him to tie them...he was joking with his mate about how ridiculous the penalty amount was.
He described himself as an 'ex-truckie"...i wonder if there was even some agenda there...when you have been in courier in small vehicles 1-2Tonne, you soon pick up that some of the big vehicle drivers have got some kind of casual hard-on for you..the driver took it way better than I would have.
For years I ran around with loads exactly resembling that particular one in nature and magnitude, sitting on in that particular situation...I never lost one, and no cop ever hassled me about it.
It's not that I never secured anything, I had ropes/angles/binders on board coming out my wazoo...it's just that, like that...na. Bull****.

Don't know what the law is in Victoria but in NSW it is an offence to have a load on a truck or in a trailer or ute uncovered/unsecured.

[RetroPilot]

must make the 1TT couriers' lives ridiculous, up there..

[RetroPilot]

but it has made me think again about my occasional scrap car battery runs to the scrap dealers, where I might have several car batteries sitting on back of a vehicle like that, in similar kind of way to those boxes...if it can happen in NSW, chances are, given the right day and right !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! cop, probably it could happen here..obviously on your way to sell $100 batteries if ur lucky vs whatever ridiculous ticket could come into play, is bad math...
Remembering what happened to me in January over the helmet, and what the purpose of that trip was...to deliver <$50 carparts across town by bike/ptv..

[RobertL]

They're pretty strict about unsecured loads in utes in Qld too.

My father worked for a while in a tool shop, and always had tradie customers whinging about having just been booked for not tying down stuff in the back of their utes.

[RetroPilot]

there are items in utes, and then there are other forms of items in utes, is part of the point I'm making.

my comments really only go to the example in the first episode of motorcycle cops..2 armfuls of 30X30x25 cartons , in the back of a dropside alu tray..