The Pacific, Cunningham and New England Highways are dotted with small areas to overtake, where the road has a short section of dual lanes so slower cars can be overtaken. These are small enough that one vehicle can be overtaken easily, and sometimes a second slower vehicle, but this is made more difficult if the slower vehicles speed up on these sections as they sometimes do. So you gun your car a bit more than usual, running the speed up to get past the vehicles, then once past you let the speed wash off, dropping the speedo to a couple of kilometres above the speed limit before clicking the cruise control to resume your journey. I did just this, and now have a seven hundred dollar fine for it.

In my case as I overtook the second car, a police car rose over the top of the hill at the same time. There was nothing for it, I was speeding, and I pulled over once I saw the police car put its indicator on. I am not a dangerous driver, but recognise that to overtake sometimes it is safer to overtake quickly, get ahead and let the speed drop down.

I am not a perpetual speeder, I dont fly along the highways at 140km/h, in actual fact, from five days of driving from Sydney to Brisbane out into the New England Ranges and back down to Sydney - numerous hours of driving, probably thirty or so - I have been over 120km/h probably 40 seconds in that whole time. So I was absolutely shocked when the speeding fine I got from the Queensland policeman outside of Warwick was seven hundred dollars. This does not fit the crime, nor is it indicative of my driving through NSW and Queensland.

The State Labor governments have manouvred themselves to neuter the Liberal Party's conservative "tough on crime" stance. As a result they often trump and gazump any Liberal posturing on crime by increasing the punitive measures to prove they are in fact, the party that is tough on crime. I am reminded of the scene in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs where Helmet and Sandourz argue over what speed the ship should go in a small inter-play of who has the most power, which eventually leads to a stupid outcome;

Sandurz: Prepare ship for light speed.

Helmet: No, no, no, light speed is too slow.

Sandurz: Light speed, too slow?

Helmet: Yes, we're gonna have to go right to ludicrous speed.

Sandurz: Ludicrous speed? Sir, we've never gone that fast before. I don't know if this ship can take it.

Helmet: What's the matter, Colonel Sandurz, chicken?

Sandurz: Prepare ship, prepare ship for ludicrous speed. Fasten all seat belts, seal all entrances and exits, close all shops in the mall, cancel the 3-ring circus, secure all animals in the zoo...

This is an analogy for how the Labor state governments argue with the Liberal opposition over "tough on crime" measures. The ones who wear it, are the people, in the same way as the crew in Spaceballs wore the stupid escalation to the point beyond reason.

Seven hundred dollars is too much of a fine for what is often an arbitrary enforcement of speeds. It is fiscally cruel, what if I was earning 35K Australian, and had a family of three and a mortgage to support. Such a large fine did not change my behaviour. Before I was fined, I would put the car a couple of kilometres above the speed limit and click the cruise control. After I was fined, I did exactly the same. I also still used the small overtaking areas to overtake slower vehicles. The punitive measures failed.

The seven hundred dollar fine is fiscally cruel, punitively unusual, it is unfair and ultimately unjust. The Queensland government need to reduce their fines for speeding and other traffic offences. Drop them to $100 each. Repeat offenders will be fiscally hurt, if that is the punitive intention, and those that get caught up in the arbitrary nature of traffic enforcement will be less likely to whinge about it for that price. For seven hundred dollars, Queensland will be seeing me again in their court system.

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