Unmarked police cars , what would you do ?

[Pete79]

I fail to see how that example is "one rule them, different rules for everyone else". If the vehicles where not being used at the time what is the offence? No different to having an unregistered vehicle sitting in your driveway - you cant get pinged for it if its not being used

Several weeks of driving unregistered vehicles on the road is most certainly an offense.
What if either of those police vehicles had been involved in an accident with you or your family while being used unregistered and uninsured??

[shanegtr]

Yep, using it is an offence, my argument is if its not being used at the time its discovered, what's the offence?

[JusyApples]

There is always 2 sides to every story...

One side;

“Fines for driving unregistered vehicles have accelerated in NSW since the removal of car registration stickers in 2013, with hapless motorists blaming the state government for not sending reminders to renew registration.

Fines for driving unregistered in NSW, worth more than $240 million in state revenue over the past six years, are up from about 60,000 to 65,000 last year. There was a sharp jump in fines when registration stickers were first removed in 2013, and five years on they remained elevated, suggesting drivers have not adjusted to the new system.

Erasing rego stickers was sold as a "making life easier" measure but many drivers told The Sun-Herald it served as an everyday reminder. They say they were not contacted, reminded by post, email or SMS before NSW Police pulled them over and gave them two fines – one for being unregistered and one for being uninsured, worth $673 each.”

And the other side;

“THE last thing police expected when scanning for unregistered cars at their local station was to nab two of their own.

But that’s just what happened when a highway patrol car fitted with Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology, known as ANPR, started reading plates in the Windsor Police Station carpark.

Two police vehicles were red flagged by the system last month for being unregistered and, therefore, uninsured, meaning its officers had been breaking the law each time they put them on the road.

The rogue vehicles were revealed as a mobile police van and a trailer used to launch the command’s police boat.

The station’s commander, Superintendent Steve Egginton, said both vehicles had been unregistered for several weeks.

A police spokesman said a paperwork error was to blame for the rego bungle, the same excuse used by thousands of drivers pinged every year by the ANPR system.

But unlike the average NSW motorist, the station’s commanding officers decided to let themselves off without a fine, declaring that the vehicles hadn’t been in use at the time they were caught, and therefore no law was being flouted.”


See 2 sides to every story, or as its more commonly known “one rule them, different rules for everyone else”.

No offence if the vehicle was not driven.

I get an email, a follow up email and a letter in the mail from both RMS and also from the insurer. So what excuse is there? Why can’t people be responsible for taking care of their own paperwork. I know my rego is due on the 10th of August, my other car the 22nd of September and my wife’s car the 30th of May.

People are just too lazy to get their Shit sorted themselves



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JD-120]

Lol,.never forgotten to do anything ever???

I forgot to rego my prado. Police pulled over the missus,.450$ fine but said if this is your first time forgetting, ring up and ask for a warning.

Wife made the call and the fine changed to a warning.

I liked the stickers as previously mentioned,served as a reminder

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[rags]

I can't forget when I have 6 regos all hanging on the fridge waiting to be payed on the same day. We have 3 vehicles and 2 trailers are all registered on the same day 22 December, this was as a result of transferring them from NSW rego to Qld rego on the same day. By coincidence our now 12 mth old Subaru is registered on the same day as the sale was completed prior to Xmas. The caravan is registered in April as we left it in NSW initially after moving so took a while to change rego.

I don't need a rego sticker to remind me and suspect those who get caught need to take responsibility for their actions which may include ensuring rego details are kept up to date with the RMS RTA or whichever dept oversees vehicle regos.

[JD-120]

those who get caught need to take responsibility for their actions

Which brings us to the op. Keep driving, but take responsibility for the repercussions


Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[gronk]

The rogue vehicles were revealed as a mobile police van and a trailer used to launch the command’s police boat.

The station’s commander, Superintendent Steve Egginton, said both vehicles had been unregistered for several weeks.

A police spokesman said a paperwork error was to blame for the rego bungle, the same excuse used by thousands of drivers pinged every year by the ANPR system.

Daughter used to work at a big lease company for vehicles and one of her jobs was to ensure all cop cars were registered ( in NSW )..Would have been easy for one to slip thru the cracks ??      Or two ??   

[KingBilly]

In Queensland, you can go online at any time and check the status of your vehicle rego.  You can choose to have an electronic reminder sent and if you have a smart phone, that date is automatically added to your calendar.  No excuse really, except laziness.

Now if you do get caught unregistered, the first time, you will still get a ticket but if you immediately go to Qld Transport and pay your rego, like that day or the next business day, the ticket will be cancelled, no questions asked.  Just don’t do it again.

KB

[KingBilly]

Several weeks of driving unregistered vehicles on the road is most certainly an offense.

Where did you get that info from?  The other voice in your head?

Both of those vehicles could remain parked up for weeks and be used.

KB

[JusyApples]

Lol,.never forgotten to do anything ever???

I forgot to rego my prado. Police pulled over the missus,.450$ fine but said if this is your first time forgetting, ring up and ask for a warning.

Wife made the call and the fine changed to a warning.

I liked the stickers as previously mentioned,served as a reminder

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

People may forget a day or two. But when it becomes weeks and months there is no excuse.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JD-120]

The thing about forgetting is you forget

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Pete79]

Where did you get that info from?  The other voice in your head?

Both of those vehicles could remain parked up for weeks and be used.

KB

The boss man said the vehicles where unregistered for several weeks, no mention of the vehicles being taken out of service during that time.
So I applied the rule for everyone else and assumed they had been using the vehicles completely unaware that they where breaking the law.
Sure, if I apply the rule for them then there is no way they could have possibly ever had inadvertently illegally driven unregistered and uninsured vehicles in the road. We all know it’s only those evil old ladies that do that sort of stuff...

[#jonesy]

The boss man said the vehicles where unregistered for several weeks, no mention of the vehicles being taken out of service during that time.
So I applied the rule for everyone else and assumed they had been using the vehicles completely unaware that they where breaking the law.
Sure, if I apply the rule for them then there is no way they could have possibly ever had inadvertently illegally driven unregistered and uninsured vehicles in the road. We all know it’s only those evil old ladies that do that sort of stuff...

So based on that if you get pulled up with your car being out of rego by a couple of weeks you expect the Policeman to issue you an additional fine for every day you might have used it???

Also the "increase" of fines for unregistered in NSW is more likely as ANPR became more widespread and the technology better at reading number plates.

[Pottsy]

Leased vehicles controlled by fleet management businesses do in fact slip through the cracks, I drove one such vehicle for a couple of weeks, luckily I did not get caught. From that time on with any vehicle I had I contacted the leasing company and enquired as to its registration date. Simple reminder on computer, phone and in the diary plus a self written sticker on the windscreen ensured it never happened again.
Registration is just another important date you need to keep track, like licences,  birthdays, anniversaries etc, forget them and the consequences can be severe, some more than others!

[Hoyks]

A mate up in Townsville bought a brand new Holden ute years ago. Drove it around for almost a year and then was wondering why his rego renewal hadn't arrived in the mail.
A call to Qld Transport told him that the plates had been issued, but no record of the rego or vehicle. Paperwork had got mixed up at the dealer and never submitted, so lucky he didn't hit anything and number plate scanning was still confined to scifi.


Free rego reminder sticker: https://www.greenslips.com.au/registration-a-ctp-greenslip-reminder-sticker-rego-sticker.html

And the get out of gaol free card the police can play...
https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/regulation/2017/451/sch1

13   Vehicles used in connection with police work(cf 2007 reg Sch 1 cl 13)

    The registration provisions do not apply to any registrable vehicle that is being used in connection with police work and to which is affixed a number-plate issued by the Authority for the purpose of being substituted for the number-plate that would otherwise be required to be affixed to the vehicle by this Regulation.

[kylarama]

So is rego sticker deletion really to blame for the massive increase in unregistered fines?

Or is it the prolific increase in number plate recognition technology being commonplace on the roads now?

My best mate is a licensed RWC tester.  He reckons 40% of his RWC certs are to re-register a car, usually a result of a fine.  That's 3 months of 'forgetting'....

The lack of stickers might be part of the problem, but I'm tipping the fact Police can now check all vehicles in even heavy traffic  with ease.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[rags]

So is rego sticker deletion really to blame for the massive increase in unregistered fines?

Or is it the prolific increase in number plate recognition technology being commonplace on the roads now?

My best mate is a licensed RWC tester.  He reckons 40% of his RWC certs are to re-register a car, usually a result of a fine.  That's 3 months of 'forgetting'....

The lack of stickers might be part of the problem, but I'm tipping the fact Police can now check all vehicles in even heavy traffic  with ease.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

Have you ever wondered why in NSW there maybe a highway patrol car sitting on the side of a Motorway with traffic crawling by in peak hour?
It is to detect unregistered cars and unlicensed drivers with the number plate recognition technology. The number plate is always associated with an owner who may in fact be unlicensed or it is the daily double no rego, no licence.
The officer tasked with that shift is usually on one of their 'days of' doing an overtime shift, payed for by the RMS rather than the police budget.
I suspect this technology has ever thing to do with the increase in fines rather than there being an increase in unpaid rego because somebody relied on a rego sticker to prompt them to pay rego.

As to the Hawkesbury (Windsor) command having an unregistered boat trailer and tow tug, it is quite probable that the boat is not used for an extended period but rather dragged out and towed the short 2 kms to the boat ramp when there is an incident/ accident on the Upper Hawkesbury river, which may not be all that often.

[JD-120]

TLDR: more efficient revenue raising

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Pete79]

So based on that if you get pulled up with your car being out of rego by a couple of weeks you expect the Policeman to issue you an additional fine for every day you might have used it

Also the "increase" of fines for unregistered in NSW is more likely as ANPR became more widespread and the technology better at reading number plates.

I’m not exactly sure what you’re getting at there.

My point was of the 65,000 people that have been fined a very large number of those where over 64 years old. Its a pretty safe bet that the vast majority of those fines where due to “administration errors” as well. And a number of those people fined would have argued that the time they got booked was the only time they had driven the vehicle since the redgo had expired. Obviously excuses are ignored and fined are issued.

The reason the police gave for not fining themselves was the vehicle was not being driven at the specific moment the plates were checked. They did not say the vehicles were out of service and had not moved in several weeks.
So in my view (rightly or wrongly) the police story should be weighted exactly the same as the other 64,000 peoples and one would find it hard to believe they had not left the station at any point in several weeks and one would also expect the officer in charge knew this when he declined to issue fines. Doesn’t fly with me, but I’m a bit of a cynical old bastard sometimes.


As for the no sticker thing, we never missed a single rego payment on our cars or trailer while we lived in NSW.
But we did forgot (as in honestly forgot) to pay the rego on my camping trailer before we left on our current family holiday (the camping trailer is currently parked at home, we towed the boat on this trip). We had received our renewal notice in the mail and stuck it on the fridge, it’s due for payment the day before we’re due to get back home next week.
I only remembered about it when I was reading this thread this morning and quickly logged onto the QLD transport to pay it on line, but I have no idea what the license plate number is and we don’t have any photos of the plates on either of our phones.
So it looks like they gov will be getting a few extra dollars off me when I finally pay it after the due date.

Forgetting is forgetting, we all do it from time to time.

[Homerj]

Where did you get that info from?  The other voice in your head?

Both of those vehicles could remain parked up for weeks and be used.

KB

Log books would show if either had or had not been used in the period they were unregistered.  If the log book says the car has been used in that time, there's the offence.  I'm not aware of many police forces that would have a vehicle parked up and unused for weeks at a time.

[JusyApples]

Have you ever wondered why in NSW there maybe a highway patrol car sitting on the side of a Motorway with traffic crawling by in peak hour?
It is to detect unregistered cars and unlicensed drivers with the number plate recognition technology. The number plate is always associated with an owner who may in fact be unlicensed or it is the daily double no rego, no licence.
The officer tasked with that shift is usually on one of their 'days of' doing an overtime shift, payed for by the RMS rather than the police budget.
I suspect this technology has ever thing to do with the increase in fines rather than there being an increase in unpaid rego because somebody relied on a rego sticker to prompt them to pay rego.

As to the Hawkesbury (Windsor) command having an unregistered boat trailer and tow tug, it is quite probable that the boat is not used for an extended period but rather dragged out and towed the short 2 kms to the boat ramp when there is an incident/ accident on the Upper Hawkesbury river, which may not be all that often.

That’s operation mercury. The officer is tasked to respond to collisions on the highways so the road is cleared ASAP. It’s a rostered shift not paid by RMS.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pete79]

That’s operation mercury. The officer is tasked to respond to collisions on the highways so the road is cleared ASAP. It’s a rostered shift not paid by RMS.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Has operation mercury been going continuously for the last 6 or 7 years?
Just asking as I’ve noticed those parked cars at overpasses and near merging lanes checking plates for at least the last 6 years.

[KingBilly]

Log books would show if either had or had not been used in the period they were unregistered.  If the log book says the car has been used in that time, there's the offence.  I'm not aware of many police forces that would have a vehicle parked up and unused for weeks at a time.

Yes, there would be a vehicle register, not a log book as such.

As for a vehicle being parked up for weeks, you obvously don’t know too much about specialist police vehicles, as these were both specialist vehicles

KB

[#jonesy]

Pete my point with my comment is addressing exactly what Homerj suggested. He wants the log books checked and dealt with rather than the there and then offence of the parked car and trailer, which from the sounds of it weren't even on the public road.

[GBC]

There is always 2 sides to every story...

One side;

“Fines for driving unregistered vehicles have accelerated in NSW since the removal of car registration stickers in 2013, with hapless motorists blaming the state government for not sending reminders to renew registration.

Fines for driving unregistered in NSW, worth more than $240 million in state revenue over the past six years, are up from about 60,000 to 65,000 last year. There was a sharp jump in fines when registration stickers were first removed in 2013, and five years on they remained elevated, suggesting drivers have not adjusted to the new system.

Erasing rego stickers was sold as a "making life easier" measure but many drivers told The Sun-Herald it served as an everyday reminder. They say they were not contacted, reminded by post, email or SMS before NSW Police pulled them over and gave them two fines – one for being unregistered and one for being uninsured, worth $673 each.”

And the other side;

“THE last thing police expected when scanning for unregistered cars at their local station was to nab two of their own.

But that’s just what happened when a highway patrol car fitted with Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology, known as ANPR, started reading plates in the Windsor Police Station carpark.

Two police vehicles were red flagged by the system last month for being unregistered and, therefore, uninsured, meaning its officers had been breaking the law each time they put them on the road.

The rogue vehicles were revealed as a mobile police van and a trailer used to launch the command’s police boat.

The station’s commander, Superintendent Steve Egginton, said both vehicles had been unregistered for several weeks.

A police spokesman said a paperwork error was to blame for the rego bungle, the same excuse used by thousands of drivers pinged every year by the ANPR system.

But unlike the average NSW motorist, the station’s commanding officers decided to let themselves off without a fine, declaring that the vehicles hadn’t been in use at the time they were caught, and therefore no law was being flouted.”


See 2 sides to every story, or as its more commonly known “one rule them, different rules for everyone else”.

State governments self insure.

Second, what moron thought that having one state government department pay rego to another state government department on a state government owned vehicle was any sort of a bright idea? This type of wasteful money transfer happens all through the public service and is nuts.