Community & Business
22 November, 2024
Knuth to take speed camera fine to court
MEMBER for Hill Shane Knuth will go to court to fight a fine which he incurred from a speed camera that has been labelled “dodgy” by hundreds of motorists who are adamant they were not speeding at the time.
Mr Knuth says he is not prepared to cop the fine from a camera that he believes was not calibrated properly or was malfunctioning when it was located near Ozcare at Malanda in September last year.
He says his office received more than 400 complaints about the camera, with some receiving up to seven fines, prompting him to raise the matter in Parliament to demand answers from the Department of Main Roads and Transport and provide certificate of calibration.
But TMR stood its ground, leaving people to pay thousands of dollars in fines.
“These are police, doctors, nurses, businesspeople, pensioners and ordinary mums and dads, some who have never received a speeding fine in their life, and it is unacceptable,” Mr Knuth said at the time.
“I have never seen anything like it, and it’s a case of pure revenue raising by the government.”
Now, Mr Knuth will take the fight to the courts.
“With the ground I cover throughout a large electorate, I’m constantly on the road. I admit I’ve had my fair share of fines, I’ve paid them no problem,” he said.
“However, I was fully aware this camera was there, I was not speeding. Regardless, the reality is it would be far easier for me to pay the fine rather than fight it in court – but this is a matter of principle.
“I have raised this issue multiple times in Parliament and have also asked for calibration certificates through Right for Information while the camera was deployed at that location. It’s not too much to ask, yet to date a valid certificate has not been provided.
“Further, this is nothing but revenue raising as it was placed on an incline in an area with no crash history,” Mr Knuth added.
