Woman fined over new road rule few people know about
It is one of the state’s newest and least known road rule — and now a Central Coast woman has become one of the first to be fined over it.
Central Coast
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A former volunteer zookeeper has become one of the first on the Central Coast to be fined for failing to slow to 40km/h while passing emergency flashing lights.
Just 105 motorists have been fined over the controversial new road rule across all of NSW, according to state revenue data.
One of those was 23-year-old former volunteer zookeeper Carla Ann Robertson, of Halekulani.
Court documents reveal she was driving south along Wilfred Barrett Drive at Magenta about 12.15pm on July 11, 2019.
A police officer positioned himself about 145 metres down the road from where emergency services were attending an accident and clocked Ms Robertson with a handheld radar travelling 73km/h past the incident “within close proximity” of first responders.
She pleaded guilty to the offence but appealed the $457 fine and three demerit points because she risked losing her licence after two previous speeding offences, including one on a double demerit weekend last year.
She was due to face Wyong Local Court yesterday to offer an explanation but failed to attend.
Despite her failure to appear Magistrate Mick Morahan upheld her appeal in her absence and dismissed the offence under Section 10(1)(a) of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act.
The new rule was brought in on September 1 last year for a 12-month trial to protect emergency services attending to accidents and other road incidents from passing traffic.
It formally took effect on September 26 this year and was extended to tow-truck operators and breakdown assistance workers, in addition to police, paramedics and firefighters.
The law courted controversy before it was even introduced with some motoring experts warning it could lead to more accidents, especially on motorways with higher speed limits.
The law was subsequently altered for roads with a speed limit of 90km/h or more.
On those roads motorists need to exercise their judgment in order to slow down to a reasonable speed for the circumstances and move as far away from the incident as safely possible.
Parts of Wilfred Barrett Drive are zoned 90km/h but it was not clear from documents tendered to court whether she was clocked in that zone or where the limit drops to 80km/h and 70km/h.
Attempts to contact Ms Robertson were unsuccessful.
According to Revenue NSW data there were 105 people fined with the new offence during the 2018-19 financial year.
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