Fines issued!

[Aussie Oldtimer]

I'm glad we(Americans) don't have such draconian laws. In the States the accused has the right to face his/her accuser. Not simply handed out a fine.

he did face his accuser. it was a court action and normal rules of evidence apply and they would have given evidence

 

[Dizzy1971]

The guy seems like a jerk but $28,000 in fines seems a bit steep to me.

He obviously has never understood that it is unwise to mess with those who can mess with you harder!....judges, prison guards,...cops on deserted rainy highways at night....people who can fine you 28000 big ones...

 

[WithTheBirds]

Typical crowd behavior. Ostracizing the rule breaking or otherwise non-conforming individuals serves at least two crucial purposes: reinforcing the status of the individual as a member of the group via respect for group norms and separating the offender in a dehumanizing way from the group allowing for harsher punitive measures given the stripping away of what makes the offender similar to group members.

Perhaps that could've been worded better but you get the idea. This phenomena is on display here as well as nearly any social media community. It is unfortunately always going to be as the vast majority of people are 'wired' for this behavior. Even those who reject the norms solely because they are 'norms' are tethered to the group, in an opposite fashion of course . Still, it is depressing to see the lack of thoughtfulness or reason applied in instances where a community member has stepped outside the bounds of acceptable behavior. It is primarily those who do so, not for the purpose of being contrarian but because they are driven by deeper purpose, who give societies innovative ideas and unique ways of viewing reality.
Group-think is unfortunately an important albeit irritating social glue without which Lord knows how much or how little society would have evolved and improved during the history of our (or similar) species. I believe we would be worse off without it but I agree entirely with the sentiment KenSteele.

Now, speaking to the guy in Australia he sounds like one of the latter group-think bound types I mentioned above. Contrarian specifically for the sake of being oppositional. In short a major butt head who deserves what he gets as much as those other group-thinkers deserve their lot although methinks neither understands what they miss in being bound in such a fashion to their need for acceptance. Not that I have disdain for what is essentially a trait that most human behavior is governed by, I am just not wired that way. Acceptance is as a cool breeze; its nice when its blowing but hardly a requirement for getting things done. Now I'm just rambling about anything but the topic of this post....bye :0

As an aside I happen to agree with many of the rules in place at present restricting drone operation. As much as some really irk me, I can understand the need for better controls given the possibility of inadvertent death and destruction that could result from a drone and aircraft collision. Like most rules and regulations though I believe they go too far in restricting some aspects of UAS operation due to hype and resulting paranoia of the 'group'. There are some necessary limits placed on our hobby but not to the extent there are at present. Giving the power of right granting to government is bad business...

Or it might be a simple case of hoping the old scenario of spoiling if for the majority doesn’t eventuate from a few donkeys actions.

One thing is obvious. You don’t book up that amount of fines for one single action.

 

[kensteele]

would you back a fellow motorist if he broke the law? i doubt it

depends on the law that was broken. i don't agree with all traffic laws. i agree with most of them but not all of them. i back motorist who are driving across country with a radar detector and they drive thru virginia and the commonwealth believes they should hand out extra fines and confiscate a legal tool from otherwise law-abiding citizens. speeding with a radar detector is one thing; possession of a radar detector is ridiculous. i back fellow motorcycles who will split lanes in a traffic jam to avoid getting rear ended. if you state doesn't have exceptions for you to run a broken red light, i back the motorist who waits thru two cycles and then proceeds with caution at midnite. i absolutely will back a motorist who gets a double citation in a work zone or school zone when no kids are present or when no workers are present. luckily most places have adapted to my thinking. for sure if you are going the speed limit in the left lane and you're not on the highway/freeway, i don't agree the police can ticket you if you are not passing and there is no sign. i'm on that jury, you get a pass. i disagree with all camera/remote red light/speeding tickets. seat belt laws and helmet laws are stupid. shall i go on?

 

[WithTheBirds]

I'm glad we(Americans) don't have such draconian laws. In the States the accused has the right to face his/her accuser. Not simply handed out a fine.

So you have no statutory penalties for prescribed offences? I don’t believe that might be the case.

 

[drakkor]

Some people think they are better than there neighbors . They think that rules are for others and they are above them . I know of a few just like that where I live .

Same here... I know of a few people like that too

 

[Chip]

I'm glad we(Americans) don't have such draconian laws. In the States the accused has the right to face his/her accuser. Not simply handed out a fine.

Yes, you get to face off against your FAA accuser if you wish to contest the fine BUT you must do so at an administrative hearing at NTSB office in Washington DC. Might be inconvenient if you live overseas. Check out the $10,000 "civil penalty" letter the FAA sent to Raphael Pirker in Switzerland for flying a drone in Virginia.

https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/threatlevel/2014/10/Complaint.pdf

 

[RayOZ]

no need to pile on. no need to ask for bigger fines.

People are not piling on him for breaking the law. It's for his blasé attitude of the law and authority, and disregard to privacy of his neighbours. There were 3 charges, and instead of paying the initial fines, he was also wasting a lot of peoples time; getting police, judges, prosecutors, etc involved.

 

[bentbrent]

Where the ( Mod Removed language ) is Port Kembla?

It's just a little north of Primbee. Don't you have GoogleMaps?

 

[deleted member 877]

i disagree with all camera/remote red light/speeding tickets. seat belt laws and helmet laws are stupid. shall i go on?

No, PLEASE DON’T !!!!

 

[kensteele]

No, PLEASE DON’T !!!!

i was asked. but i understand the truth gets hard to hear sometimes.

 

[Cymruflyer]

light/speeding tickets. seat belt laws and helmet laws are stupid. shall i go on?

Seat belt laws are a good thing. It keeps a driver in the seat to protect other road users and keeps driver and passengers in the seat to stop them flying about the car in an accident.

Keeping drivers in their seats is a good thing. If you child was driving down the road and car A hit car B and car B was driven by a no seat belter and was thrown from the driving seat inside the car, in an impact and Car B then veered out of control driverless, into your child's car and hit them head on killing them, and an investigation found that had the driver of car B been belted in, they most likely would have been able to keep in control of their car and steer clear of your child's car, I bet you would view the seat belt a little differently.

Or if your child was belted in and the driver of the car she was travelling in was not, and they had a hard impact and that driver was thrown to the side your child was sitting and her body impact cause your child to suffer a broken neck, again I bet you would think about the seat belt law differently.

The seat belt law is for occupants protection of flying bodies, and to help keep the driver in a position to take back control of a car in the event of an accident. How you can say that such a thing is stupid, is beyond me. A helmet law is a bit different.

 

[sar104]

No, PLEASE DON’T !!!!

It was a rhetorical question. He always goes on. And on, and on, and on.

 

[deleted member 877]

It was a rhetorical question. He always goes on. And on, and on, and on.

Don't we all know it ! :-(

 

[Gryphon962]

i was asked. but i understand the truth gets hard to hear sometimes.

Hard to hear, sure. The truth? Only in your own mind.

 

[Dr. Bill 1969]

So you have no statutory penalties for prescribed offences? I don’t believe that might be the case.

Short of explaining the American Justice System I'll try to explain why no American would simply receive a judgement(fine) in the mail with no recourse.

We have prescribed penalties. However, before the penalty is levied there must be a trial/hearing where the accused hears the evidence against him/her and is allowed to challenge said evidence. The accuser has the burden to prove the illegal action, 1) took place, 2)was within the court's jurisdiction, 3) was caused by the defendant, 4) happened without mitigation, justification or excuse.

Please remember the above is an extremely simplistic explanation. There are literally thousands of subtle nuances which will come into play during the execution of an indictment and trial in a criminal case.

 

[Dr. Bill 1969]

he did face his accuser. it was a court action and normal rules of evidence apply and they would have given evidence

My remark was the result of only reading a portion of the story. No excuses from me.

 

[kensteele]

Seat belt laws are a good thing. It keeps a driver in the seat to protect other road users and keeps driver and passengers in the seat to stop them flying about the car in an accident.

Keeping drivers in their seats is a good thing. If you child was driving down the road and car A hit car B and car B was driven by a no seat belter and was thrown from the driving seat inside the car, in an impact and Car B then veered out of control driverless, into your child's car and hit them head on killing them, and an investigation found that had the driver of car B been belted in, they most likely would have been able to keep in control of their car and steer clear of your child's car, I bet you would view the seat belt a little differently.

Or if your child was belted in and the driver of the car she was travelling in was not, and they had a hard impact and that driver was thrown to the side your child was sitting and her body impact cause your child to suffer a broken neck, again I bet you would think about the seat belt law differently.

The seat belt law is for occupants protection of flying bodies, and to help keep the driver in a position to take back control of a car in the event of an accident. How you can say that such a thing is stupid, is beyond me. A helmet law is a bit different.

i believe in wearing a seat belt and i wear mine at all times. i just don't believe the police should enforce it as a traffic infraction. i think it was ok as a secondary but not primary. seat belt laws don't work. people wear them because of what you explained above, not because of the law. people that don't wear them still won't even if it's the law. therefore the law is used to push people who forget or cops simply lie about it. it's used for revenue or pretext. otherwise, totally agree with all you said.

 

[WithTheBirds]

Short of explaining the American Justice System I'll try to explain why no American would simply receive a judgement(fine) in the mail with no recourse.

We have prescribed penalties. However, before the penalty is levied there must be a trial/hearing where the accused hears the evidence against him/her and is allowed to challenge said evidence. The accuser has the burden to prove the illegal action, 1) took place, 2)was within the court's jurisdiction, 3) was caused by the defendant, 4) happened without mitigation, justification or excuse.

Please remember the above is an extremely simplistic explanation. There are literally thousands of subtle nuances which will come into play during the execution of an indictment and trial in a criminal case.

Ok- here is the simplistic question. Can you be issued with a parking or speeding fine without a court process? That is analogous to what has happened with the infringement notices here. They can be challenged. Returning to sender unclaimed and refusing to pay doesn’t count as a dispute.

 

[deleted member 877]

i believe in wearing a seat belt and i wear mine at all times. i just don't believe the police should enforce it as a traffic infraction. i think it was ok as a secondary but not primary. seat belt laws don't work. people wear them because of what you explained above, not because of the law. people that don't wear them still won't even if it's the law. therefore the law is used to push people who forget or cops simply lie about it. it's used for revenue or pretext. otherwise, totally agree with all you said.

Do you have any evidence or survey results or anything to back up your statements ?