There should be no argument that a person should not be punished for obeying a law when that law conflicts with another law.
Exactly that happened when a motorist did what is required by pulling over and giving way to an emergency vehicle sounding it's sirens and flashing it's lights.
Unfortunately this happened at a light controlled intersection equipped with a red light camera. A " disobeying a red light " infringement followed.
The motorist went to court - and the magistrate agreed that the fine of $ 308 and loss of three demerit points was not warranted. The charge was dismissed without penalty - but the Roads and Traffic Authority persisted in applying those three demerit points.
A RTA spokesman commented " that this happens a lot ".
We pay a whole bunch of politicians good money to oversee the laws of this state. This same stupid conflict of laws gets publicity in the media on a regular basis - and yet our politicians have done nothing to correct the situation.
We have a bad law on the books. Surely the matter should end with the magistrate.
All that is required is a simple law change to instruct the RTA that when a charge is dismissed - both the fine and the demerit points no longer apply.
What odds that a year from now our politicians have still done nothing - and those conflicting laws are still on the books ?
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