A fine for the unwary !

On the first of December, 2008 a new law came into force in New South Wales. All those " No Standing " signs were deemed to legally become " No Stopping " signs -= and the fine for disobeying rose from $ 75 to $ 185.

Eventually, when councils get around to it - the signs will be changed, but before that happens the police and council rangers will cheerfully hand out tickets and extract money from those who are uninformed.

One of the traps that many will fall into concern Australia Post letter boxes.

These roadside letter boxes all have " No Standing " printed on the side facing the road - and despite this change of legislation being advertised way back in 1999 this government department has made no effort to change the signage.

Under the old " No Standing " rules it was perfectly legal to stop and post a letter. That legislation allowed for a car to stop and pickup or let down a passenger and remain for any purpose no longer than two minutes - with the proviso that the driver should not move more than three metres from the vehicle.

The new law makes it an offence to stop the car - for any reason !

A lot of people will fail to recognise that this " deeming " law change means that it is now illegal to stop momentarily to post a letter - and as a consequence those fine-happy rangers will make a motza.

It will be interesting to see how many years - or maybe centuries - it will take before Australia Post gets around to updating the signs on their letter boxes - and how long it will take councils before the last " No Standing " sign is sent for recycling.

It would have been a much fairer deal if these old signs had remained legal - until they were replaced. That would have provided an incentive for councils to get the job done - and improve the revenue flow from fines.

As it stands there is no rush for councils or any other government agency to move on the issue. Once again the mug taxpayers are being hit with a confusing law change, a big increase in the amount of the fine - and a trap that the beneficiaries are in no hurry to change !