AU $710 and temporary loss of licence for an entire season, for just 30km/h over?
That's utterly crazy! Do you live in North Korea?
In Germany (not the most relaxed country on Earth when it comes to authorities!), the same offence is €80.- and 3 points on the offence register (you loose your licence with 18 accumulated points). The points will be deleted in 2 years if no other offence has been commited.
Here, you'll loose temporarily your licence for:
- no temp ban for anything below 40km/h over limit (outside towns only - regime is tougher within city limits, which is ok by me!!!)
- 1 month when doing 41 - 50 km/h over limit, €160 fine, 3pts
- 1 month when doing 51 - 60 km/h over limit, €240 fine, 4pts
- 2 months when doing 61 - 70 km/h over limit, €440 fine, 4pts
- 3 months when doing 71 km/h over limit or more, €600 fine, 4pts
On motorways / Autobahn & dual lane A-roads not subject to a general speed limit, minimum distance rules apply - tailgating fines & bans are similar than the ones for speeding, and as mentioned above, they are checked by mobile police radar/photo units placed on bridges:
i.e.
- distance below 25% of kph speed in meters (like doing 120km/h and keeping less than 30 meters of distance to the vehicle in front): €75 fine, 1 point, no ban
- less than 1/20 of speed in meters (if tailgating above 130km/h on an Autobahn) : 400,- EUR, 4 points, 3 months licence ban
In 25 years and over half a million kms, the fastest I was ever caught was 25km/h over - in the car, doing 85 in a silly 60 zone (public road works on a motorway). Never got a tailgating fine on unlimited stretch of Autobahn.
As I said, bikers rarely get fined, since fixed radars flash front only, and surprise laser checks with police checkpoints are very rare.
I'd most likely be in prison if I'd still reside in Australia or UK!
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