SA Police withdraw fines issued to drivers during crackdown on heavy vehicles speeding down the South Eastern Freeway

Police will drop more than 100 speeding prosecutions and dozens of South-Eastern Freeway fines – with a lawyer saying officials had years to fix this “unjust law”.

Police will discontinue 153 prosecution cases and cancel 56 suspended fines for heavy-vehicle drivers caught speeding on the South Eastern Freeway downtrack.

Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott on Friday revealed testing procedure records for the Leawood Gardens traffic camera “fell short of our own high standards”.

“It has been determined from our review of this particular fixed camera … that the recording of the testing regime SA Police had been conducting is such that we are not likely to see a reasonable prospect of conviction in court if the matter was contested,” Mr Parrott said.

The announcement comes a little more than two weeks after Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said fines would not be withdrawn en masse and that cases were likely to proceed.

Traffic lawyer Karen Stanley, who represents about 30 clients, said senior government officials “had every opportunity over the past few years to fix this terribly unjust law”.

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

“Every single official with the power to exercise their discretion to spare these drivers a licence disqualification has declined to help,” Ms Stanley said.

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

Motorists detected 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.

But seven months later, and after widespread criticism, the tough laws were wound back by the State Government, which acknowledged they were too harsh.

Police confirmed they had issued a total of 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Of those 10,670 expiation notices, 9959 were finalised, 316 elected to go to court – of which 153 now will be withdrawn – 56 were cancelled and 339 administravely withdrawn.

A fixed traffic camera on the South Eastern Freeway at Leawood Gardens. Picture: Mike Burton

The prosecution of cases was discontinued on February 1, when police launched a review to investigate other matters and determine whether any unpaid fines should remain active.

It found that, while the testing procedure undertaken every 28 days was correct, the retention of records was not completed in a manner satisfactory for a reasonable prospect of conviction.

Mr Parrott said police were confident the camera was operating correctly and there were no issues with the technology.

“The matters cancelled are done so purely from a procedural process perspective and not regarding the capabilities of the camera,” Mr Parrott said.

“We also cannot lose sight of the fact that this camera was installed as a critical factor in addressing the issues of speeding heavy vehicles descending down the South Eastern Freeway into the city area where people have died.”

The Leawood Gardens camera was switched off on December 2, 2020, for maintenance and roadworks and is not expected to become operational again until June this year.

Ms Stanley said she was delighted her clients were “finally getting justice”.

“When people are facing disastrous consequences as a result of very bad laws they get desperate,” Ms Stanley said.

“Desperate people engage lawyers to find defences or loopholes to charges. This is what happens when people join forces to fight unjust and unfair laws.”

SA Best MP Frank Pangallo said licences must be immediately returned to those currently serving suspensions, convictions overturned and demerit points restored.

He said the State Government needed to consider refunding innocent drivers who had lost their jobs after paying fines that may have been issued unlawfully.

“I warned the Commissioner and the Government about this impending fiasco two years ago and I was fobbed off,” Mr Pangallo said.

“Police have been caught out yet again for failing to follow proper statutory procedures with their speed detection devices.”