27 September 2007

What's doing on Coulter Drive?

| Dark and Mysterious
Join the conversation
23

Went down Coulter Drive at 9am, just before the lights on William Hovell, and there was a big operation going on. At least three police cars pulling drivers over. At first I thought it was a breath test, but I think they were checking tyres with some sort of calliper arrangement. Hard to be sure because I only had a quick glance as I was waved on. There were about half a dozen driverless cars sitting there on the verge!

Anyone know what was doing?

Join the conversation

23
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

I was wondering about this too – I passed the exact same setup driving to Woden on Adelaide Ave about a fortnight ago. About six cars pulled over on the northbound side of the road, under the Cotter Rd bridge near the Mint. Also, a camera about 500m up the road. Interesting that it was an automated number plate checker – I just figured it was an automated speed camera and they were only pulling over the ones who were speeding.

Thanks for the info.

I agree MRB. Don’t blame the cops, They do a pretty good job considering they are way under strength. If anything People should be directing their insults to the government. I’m sure insulting the Police Force does wonders for their morale. I suspect that those who complain are obviously public servants who don’t know what they put up with or someone who has broken the law before.

BigDave, if we were living in a Minority Report world (trademark etc etc), then that would be great – cops would be able to know what sort of person is driving the said vehicle and determine whether or not a motorist will come out swinging a crowbar. However, until this exists, they’ll have to continue to treat each person as though they want to give them some fist lovin’.
And as far as I can see – as hard as it may be for you to fathom – there are actually other cops out there catching those real criminals, as you put it.
What you you rather – a ‘real criminal’ doing burglaries in an city of thousands of houses, or one drunk driver driving 10-20 kms whilst near other road users. The answer, of course, is neither! That’s why different cops do different things. What a revelation!

By “defenceless”, I mean your typical motorist isn’t likely to come out swinging a crowbar like a hardened criminal is he/she? Thus making them a much easier target for the cops to catch. Just think, none of them will suffer any broken fingernails…

Felix the Cat7:13 pm 28 Sep 07

Didn’t see any cops today in my ~150km journeys around Canberra today but the radio was reporting a ‘blitz’ because of the holiday weekend. This often seems to be the case, the more a ‘blitz’ is publicised, the less cops I seem to see. Maybe they were just in the places I didn’t go to today (Tuggeranong maybe?).

Why do the double demerit points start a day before the holiday weekend starts?

“Yes, good to see they’re out catching defenceless motorists instead of real criminals.”

Err, if you’re driving an unroadworthy vehicle or driving under the influence, then, um, you’re breaking the law… Hardly “defenceless”.

Yes, good to see they’re out catching defenceless motorists instead of real criminals.

Dark and Mysterious9:35 am 28 Sep 07

They’re in the same spot doing breath testing this morning. In good news for sobriety, I didn’t see anyone being charged or ‘abandoned’ cars as of 9am!

I was waved on both times – obviously they like the look of me, and my car. 😉

VYBerlinaV8 now_with_added grunt8:58 am 28 Sep 07

Good to see vehicle inspections being done. Hopefully they are able to check brakes and structural condition somehow as well. For all the griping us New South Welshmen carry on with for having our cars inspected every year, at least it means I know the basics are ok.

I went to renew my licence last year and was told that it had been suspended in 2003 for an unpaid parking fine. I thought this was stange as I had been pulled over by the police twice in recent times, once for speeding and the other time for RBT. They never once mentioned anything about me not having a licence.
Even stranger was that I never owned a car, or had a car registered in my name in 2003. And also never receieved any fine or correspondence in the mail about this parking fine.
I explained this to the people at the shopfront and they kindly renewed my licence on the spot.
I think they may have something to do with me being all “suited up” from being at work, as I doubt they would have taken my word for it if I’d walked in in my track pants.

The cops are out because its the end of the month and they have quotas to meet. Happens every month.

Opps forgot this part:
If payment of the penalty plus administrative charge, or a letter disputing the infringement, is not received within 28 days from the date of service of the reminder notice, the Road Transport Authority will commence action to suspend your driver licence, vehicle registration, or if you are licensed interstate, your right to drive in the ACT.

The rego checks happens often on Coulter Drive.

Licence suspended for an unpaid parking fine?

What happens if you don’t pay?
If full payment of the penalty, or a letter disputing the parking infringement, is not received within 28 days from the date of service, a reminder notice will be issued for payment of the penalty plus an administrative charge.

They’re on attractive commissions with great bonuses for performance. Get out there and Sell! (or catch, in their case).

Felix the Cat8:52 pm 27 Sep 07

I’ve seen quite a few cops out and about in the last few days, mostly with radar guns in hand.

There was a busful the other day (trainees?) on Limestone Ave just near the Fire Station/Ainslie Footy Club.

Here’s a message from my fiance:

Same thing happened last Thursday on Lady Denman drive. Got pulled over and told my licence had been suspended since 2006 for an unpaid parking ticket that I hadn’t given a second thought since the day it happened (my bad, I’ll admit). The thing is, I never received any notification about the overdue fine OR the fact that my license had been suspended. Gotta love the system… I was lucky in that they acknowledged the fact that I hadn’t been notified, cautioned me and told me to find another way home and go pay the fine tomorrow to have my licence restored. I got a taxi home from the car park on the end of Lady Denman and my mom got scared and said, “You’re moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air!” I whistled for a cab and when it came near the licence plate said “Fresh” and it had dice in the mirror. If anything, I could say that this cab was rare, but I thought, “Nah forget it, yo homes, to Bel-Air!”

Probably.
A fleet of what looked like trainees milling about on Limestone Ave(no idea what that was about, except it was where a strange motor accident causing death occured some months ago), and traffic directing practice at Hindmarsh Drive/Canberra Ave, Fyshwick, a couple of days ago. Very impressive performance by the trainee I encountered.

Are there some graduates coming out of the police college soon? I think they usually do stuff like this.

How bizarre. ACT police doing real police stuff. it won’t last. It was probably a training exercise.

they started around 7am.. they were there when we went past

They were doing vehicle checks on Hindmarsh Drive near Symonston at about 12pm today, so I assume it’s the same group of officers from Coulter Drive this morning.

The AFP had their vehicle number plate recognition system setup in advance of the registration and roadworthy checking further down the road.

Rawhide Kid No 211:06 am 27 Sep 07

You’ll find that the is indeed officers from the RTA there. The police are there to enforce the law.

Well it’s nice to see the Police do something other than revenue raising, if they were infact doing vehicle compliance checks. But if the Police are underresoucrced as the often claim to be, shouldn’t vehicle inspector be doing that?

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.