I was given the following information from a friend in Australia, and you will be interested in what the Australian States consider as law-breaking, and the size of the fines, which I have approximately converted to baht.
Here are 8 Aussie road rules you didn’t know for the 2015-16 summer holidays.
By the way, if you get too drunk to drive, then you can get a learner driver steer you home in Western Australia – but not in any of the other states.
1) Did you know it is illegal to creep forward through a red light to let an emergency vehicle through gridlock traffic? And if you’ve activated a red light camera, the ticket’s on you. It is also a fine in most states to not give way to emergency vehicles (three demerit points and fines of close to B. 10,000 in most states). The message: don’t do anything stupid or illegal, but do get out of the way.
Illegal!
2) It is an offence to run an orange light if police deem you had time to stop safely. The penalty is the same as for a red light, carrying three demerit points and a fine of up to B. 14,000 in some states.
3) It is illegal for a driver to operate a mobile phone (other than to make a call) in a Macca’s drive-thru and similar driveways because “it is still a road by definition and technically a line of traffic”. And wait for this one – resting your phone on your lap is a ticket as well – even if you’re not using it – with fines up to B. 10,000 and six points this holiday period in NSW, and B. 12,000 and four points in Victoria.
4) We all know littering is illegal, but did you know that includes apple cores and banana peels, which many of us flick out the window because it’s biodegradable? Aside from the danger of encouraging animals to the roadside to eat the scraps, the fine for littering is dearer from a moving car in some states. In NSW it increases from B. 5,500 to 6,000, the same as flicking a cigarette butt.
5) Don’t toot and wave goodbye to friends and family: that’s two tickets. One for improper use of a horn (up to B. 10,000 in some states) and another for “limb protrude” (in NSW, where the penalties for most offences are highest, the fine is B. 10,000 and three demerit points for the driver and B. 10,000 for the passenger).
6) Don’t forget to re-register your trailer. That trip to the tip could cost you up to B. 20,000 if it’s unregistered.
7) It is illegal for a bike rack to obscure your car’s number plate B. 15,000 and three demerit points in NSW, but in Victoria there is also a fine for having a bike rack fitted when it is not carrying bicycles B. 4,500.
8) Opening a car door and accidentally hitting a cyclist or pedestrian is a B. 10,000 fine in Victoria. The fines for not leaving enough room for cyclists are up to three demerit points and B. 10,000.
So now you can see why I say that Australia is over-governed and over-regulated! Thailand, of course, is at the opposite end of the spectrum, which isn’t good either. However, in comparison, the B. 200 for being alive or other “offences”, as meted out by the roadside police means we are in heaven already.
