This little-known road rule cost a Brisbane driver $483

The driver, who copped a whopping fine, has said he was treated “unfairly” over the little-known rule.

A Brisbane driver has claimed he was “unfairly fined” after breaking a little-known road rule.

The man was driving in the Brisbane suburb of Oxley when he approached a stop sign.

“I stopped not only before the line, but by nearly a car length (behind the line),” he said.

He added that he checked both ways, but when he drove around the corner, he was stopped by a police officer, who said they didn’t see the man stop.

The man copped a $483 fine.

“The officer said he’d not seen me stop and asked me where I’d stopped, clearly he wasn’t sure but (he) still issued me a fine,” the disgruntled driver said.

“It wasn’t cheap either.”

A driver must stop just behind the stop line. Picture: Queensland Transport and Main Roads.

A Queensland Transport and Main Roads spokesman told The Courier Mail when a driver approaches a stop sign, they must bring the car to a stop “just behind the line”.

The spokesperson confessed there was no “specific distance” that a motorist needs to stop behind the sign, and that it depended on several factors on the road.

“Drivers must stop as near as possible to the stop line to ensure they have sufficient visibility of the intersection, including to see pedestrians and riders who may be crossing,” the spokesperson said.

“Stopping a long way before the intersection can reduce visibility and be dangerous.”

The driver took his frustration to social media, but commenters questioned why he stopped so far from the sign.

“If you stopped almost a car length before the line then you wouldn’t have had a clear view of oncoming traffic,” one person said.

Originally published as This little-known road rule cost a Brisbane driver $483