ACT Incompetence Shafting RAPID?

PantsMan said :

I got pulled over in Victoria in an ACT registered car and told it was registered to someone in NSW who I’d never heard of. Issued a $649 fine.

As I was about to go overseas in two days, I almost punched the officer when he suggested that if I didn’t like it I could go through a two month internal review process and hope to get it waived.

Surprise, surprise, it was down to an error in the ACT computer system.

actually an error in the NSW computer system (ACT outsourcers)
ACT plates wouldn’t be enough of a clue? that its NOT a nsw rego?

buzz819 said :

PantsMan said :

I got pulled over in Victoria in an ACT registered car and told it was registered to someone in NSW who I’d never heard of. Issued a $649 fine.

As I was about to go overseas in two days, I almost punched the officer when he suggested that if I didn’t like it I could go through a two month internal review process and hope to get it waived.

Surprise, surprise, it was down to an error in the ACT computer system.

Why would you get a $649 fine for the car being registered to someone else?

I just had a look at the Victorian list of fines etc. there isn’t even a fine for $649, the closest I could come up with for you would be not submit details of rego change or something similar which is only $122.

What was the fine for, I mean there is a $622 for driving an unregistered vehicle, which is totally different to having it registered to someone else, you weren’t driving unregistered were you?

I’m all for having a gripe about a fine that isn’t deserved, but don’t lie about a fine and say it was, more then you were fined, for something you weren’t fined for AND for something you were probably doing.

No, sorry you’re probably right with the $622. I recall it was 6 something.

They said it was unregistered, even with the paid up rego sticker on it. I think it was still listed as owned by the NSW people, but not registered by anyone.

I found firing expletives down the phone at the review board did not help much, but I did write a letter with my tax invoice, and they did write back withdrawing it (they posted to the wrong address of course), put in a complaint to VicPol while overseas, and then when I got back a year later rang them up again and provided further expletives while asking for the copy of the original withdrawal letter to be posted to me again at the right address.

PantsMan said :

I got pulled over in Victoria in an ACT registered car and told it was registered to someone in NSW who I’d never heard of. Issued a $649 fine.

As I was about to go overseas in two days, I almost punched the officer when he suggested that if I didn’t like it I could go through a two month internal review process and hope to get it waived.

Surprise, surprise, it was down to an error in the ACT computer system.

Why would you get a $649 fine for the car being registered to someone else?

I just had a look at the Victorian list of fines etc. there isn’t even a fine for $649, the closest I could come up with for you would be not submit details of rego change or something similar which is only $122.

What was the fine for, I mean there is a $622 for driving an unregistered vehicle, which is totally different to having it registered to someone else, you weren’t driving unregistered were you?

I’m all for having a gripe about a fine that isn’t deserved, but don’t lie about a fine and say it was, more then you were fined, for something you weren’t fined for AND for something you were probably doing.

I got pulled over in Victoria in an ACT registered car and told it was registered to someone in NSW who I’d never heard of. Issued a $649 fine.

As I was about to go overseas in two days, I almost punched the officer when he suggested that if I didn’t like it I could go through a two month internal review process and hope to get it waived.

Surprise, surprise, it was down to an error in the ACT computer system.

A RAPID system comprises of a tripod /camera device linked to a laptop in a van / car etc…via a cord where member/s can sit and either monitor the automatic operation of the camera or run plates manually through the laptop.

The unfortunate part, for the members operating the unit, is that the information on the laptop is not current with the RTA database. The info needs to be uploaded before use each time, which rakes a long long time, or members are subjected to using data from a previous setup – OLD INFO, I believe.

“This will be sorted over time, but, consider the fact that the time wasted by you whilst waiting to have it sorted out is nothing in comparison to the amount of time wasted by the police – doing the checks and confirming the real status.”

A simple way to solve the problem is for the NSW and Vic governments to automatically bill the ACT government for their police’s time every time this occurs (and vice versa). It’s amazing how quickly things get fixed when it’s costing governments money.

the database was designed here in canberra, it was a mammoth task, and kudos to the design team – they really did well with limited resources. The upload issues should have been sorted prior to live release, but it appears that there are still some small bugs. This will be sorted over time, but, consider the fact that the time wasted by you whilst waiting to have it sorted out is nothing in comparison to the amount of time wasted by the police – doing the checks and confirming the real status.

Kramer said :

You or your car must look dodgy to be pulled up twice!
What’s your number plate? 5T0L3N ??

My car isnt new but that wasnt the issue, the officers told me their numberplate recognition system had alerted him my plates came back as unregistered since 2002, which co-incidentally was when the car was last registered, but with different plates. This means that RUS had properly associated the new plates with the VIN but that the fact it had been registered wasnt onfile.

The plates on the car begin with YGN which was simply the next number in sequence when I paid my registration fees. This makes me believe that the system used to link plates to VIN numbers is different to the system that keeps track of registration, and they are obviously updated separately to the national database.

I think you will find the RTA(ACT) will be to blame for not updating the national system in a timely manner. I think the gremlins may lie in the the new regoact system which we remember hearing about the stuff-ups with sending out the renewal notices not long ago. Stringent testing they must have..

I would be sending a letter to the RTA asking for an explanation, don’t call them. If you make the complaint or question in writing, the will be required to formally respond. Contact details here: http://www.rego.act.gov.au/registrations/regomain.htm

Or write a letter to the Minister and cc in Coe, I’m sure the latter would be good at asking questions.

Skidbladnir said :

peterh said :

The problem isn’t the system, it is the length of time it takes the data to be uploaded into the national database.

All depends on what you view as ‘The System”, peterh.
While I don’t expect the AFP\national police roadside guys to be able to identify if your rego hs been paid within the last five minutes, but an overnight\regular snapshot of the database shouldn’t be too hard to organise and provide to the national system.
10 calendar days is seven business days.

Road User Services only has 250k registered cars to be responsible for the datasets of, but we seem a widely-recognised source of crap data by other State’s police.

the database was designed to be an easy snapshot system, allowing for minimal data entry and forms recognition, as long as ACT Road services complies with the form layout, it should be ok. I gather that they have made changes. This system is the best by far, but user error will always let down brilliant technologies.