Hundreds more drivers urged to seek SE Freeway fines legal advice

Many more drivers could be owed their money back by police because of a major traffic camera bungle, lawyers say.

Traffic on the South Eastern Freeway downtrack near Mount Osmond. Picture: Brenton Edwards/AAP

Hundreds of motorists who could have escaped paying fines due to a traffic camera blunder have been urged to seek legal advice but warned a damages claim would most likely fail, a traffic lawyer says.

On Friday SA Police revealed they would withdraw 153 prosecutions and cancel 56 suspected heavy-vehicle fines against drivers caught by the Leawood Gardens fixed speed camera on the South Eastern Freeway downtrack.

The move came after a review of the testing procedure for the camera was insufficient to record a conviction against motorists, some challenging fines of up to $25,000.

But traffic lawyer Karen Stanley predicts potentially hundreds of other motorists paid the fines when they may not have had to.

“I’ve received preliminary advice that there’s probably not a legal recourse for those people,” she said when asked if a class action could be possible.

“There’s no such thing as a class action for criminal charges, there may be a class action if people have suffered loss as a result of a breach of duty of care but I don’t know whether there has been such a breach.”

The State Government in May 2019 increased penalties for heavy vehicles caught exceeding the 60km/h speed limit on the freeway’s downtrack from Crafers to the Tollgate.

Motorists speeding in vehicles weighing more than 4.5 tonnes lost their licence for six months, while business owners faced a $25,000 fine if they failed to nominate the driver.

Police issued 10,670 fines – including 1872 to heavy-vehicle drivers – between April 3, 2019 and December 2 last year.

Of those 10,670 expiation notices, 9959 were finalised, 316 elected to go to court – of which 153 now will be withdrawn – 56 were cancelled and 339 administratively withdrawn, police revealed on Friday.

Dallas Coull is among those celebrating the withdrawal of a potential $26,000 fine levied against his tour company after a driver was caught travelling at 73km/h thinking his bus fell under the weight threshold, meaning he could travel up to 90 km/h.

“It’s been a real rollercoaster, I’m just relieved it’s finally happened,” he said. “There are dozens and dozens of people who have had life-changing penalties.”