RBT

Went out on Wednesday night to look at the Xmas lights. Stopped at on house (8.30pm mind you) and two police had their speed camera out. Two cars came down the road - a sedan first and then the ute. No points for guessing who got the warning and who got booked ... !!!!???

Good one Willie ... cept you didn't offer them Yuletide greetings. Most un-neighbourly of you.Fidei defensor

Rosco

Hello Willem, My daughter broke down the other night on the Narrows Bridge which as part of the Freeway with no emergency lane is not a good spot. She rang me and I told her to put the bonnet up, hazard lights on and get away from the car. The cops pull up and on the aggressive side ask her why she broke down where she did..... Well I didn't plan it she said! . Why haven't you got the hazard lights on the cop asks.... She says ... I have but they are dim because the battery is flat as the alternator is stuffed and the car stopped here!
She was up for a fight as no one had stopped to help her and all she got was the finger and abuse by the caring sharing motorist passing.

I had to explain to her that she should not give the cops a hard time when she is driving a car with 3 bald tyres and a muffler with a hole in it.... all now fixed thanks to dad.

Regards

Mark

Willem, I was waiting for the punch line, the joke at the end of your diatribe....there was none. Get a life.

I've just had some "fun" with the Stonnington Council here. I moved down from Brissy 18 months ago and was initially staying with my brother. Due to different working hours there was always a "car shuffle" happening due to a paking restiction along the entire length of the street (residential parking permits only).
The problem was that my brother has a novated lease vehicle from Telstra (officially not his) and this precluded him from obtaining a street parking permit.

Well there was this one time in August '02 when I parked my car out on the street while waiting for him to leave for work. I fell asleep for 2 hours only to go outside at 11:00 am to find a ticket. *%#@^%# ...down to the council cambers only to be told to go to Chubb Security (in the middle of a busy shopping precinct with little or no parking, no less!!) and made my protestations (letter was written explaining situation and new residential address - proof of new address?? - no lease, no "official" change of address yet... just mobile phone bills, nursing registration, etc.). Back to Council to try to obtain a parking permit...temporary permit granted after MUCH grief, and grace given for the first ticket.

Similar problems with falling asleep x 2 with permit visible in car...futher 2 tickets.( ignored)

Recieved letter from council a couple of weeks ago (brothers address) about non payment of three fines, and non attendance at three court summons. Phoned them and asked where they sent the summons to...you guessed it ...my old QLD address. Explained to them that I had been living at that time in Melbourne and that if they looked at their records they would find that application for parking permit, AND THE FACT THEY HAD SENT THIS LETTER TO ME AT MY MELBOURNE ADDRESS!! DOHHH!!!!

Last week I changed my licence to a Victorian licence and was very pleased to find that the PARIS system had been cleared of the fines........Funny about that.

16 years ago a guy so drunk he could not walk drove at the passenger side of our car at a traffic intersection.... falling asleep (unconscious??) at the last moment and dragging the wheel so that his car crashed through a service station garden/bins/signs etc rather than hit our car. My wife was in the passenger seat at the time and would have suffered severe injuries if not death if that clown had have hit us. I (and several others) dragged him from the car, he could not stand up! His response when asked why he was driving??? "I thought I was ok to drive".... (Said very slurringly)

Idiots like this are the reason for RBT units. The same as people who speed are the reason for speed camera's. It's not rocket science folk's.... if nobody exceeded the speed limit, nobody would get booked. If nobody got drunk and drove home, there'd be no breath tests.

The size of the community means nothing Willem. The fact is that people have died, mostly innocent people, from somebody drink-driving. If RBT slows down or stops the number of drink drivers on the road, then that's a good thing!

I love a drink.... and my motto is "If one is good, ten is better"..... but NEVER if I have to drive... I might get pulled over by the breath testers!!!!!!

Just my opinion
Cheers
Brian

Willie...you mean Jude said NOTHING !!....hahhaha... I wonder why...you stirrer you, I must admit the police here seem a nice bunch, even when they pull you over for a breath test, last time it happened Al was in his Ute, I was in the cruiser, we both got pulled over, and the sen constable put his arm up on the roof of Al's ute, looked in, and said "this is the new XR8 isn't it? Does she go?" hahahahahaha...

I guess it depends on the community maybe or the community spirit, the Sgt up here I believe has lived here for a number of years, and is quite involved locally, probably makes a difference...

LynMerry Christmas & a safe and happy New Year

Willem, don't go too hard on the lads when it comes to rbt / licence inspections / speeding offences issued. They are issued with orders and set quotas as to the numbers of checks and inspections they have to carry out, believe me the guys & girls i know in the job would rather be doing something else most of the time..

On the other hand in a small town they should have better local interaction and knowledge with the community, and how the hell could they not notice your little orange girl LOL ... hmmmm as for that impending roadside roadworthy :-))))

By the way for all, a massive increase in fines revenue only goes to the grubby govt. pockets, coppers still get same budget..- wonder who the real crooks are.

Have a great time over the festive break buddy, catch ya later.Moo... everyone knows what a Jackaroo looks like :-)

Willem openly admits in his opening statement he "felt like stiring the pot".

I think willem is the problem not the police..No doubt your attitude towards the boys in the first place led them to believe your were a mouth!!!!! I dont see RBT as harassing law abiding citizens. I see it as looking after the public.

Willem, I think you have the attitude, not the cops

Of course they shouldn't have stopped you for a random breath test Willie. All of the drunken drivers display a sign saying that they're over the limit! Just like thieves have a tag on them saying that they have stolen goods in their possession. Oh and of course, terrorists have "Terrorist" tattoed on their foreheads.
Wake up to yourself man - do you want to go back to the sixties when drunken drivers were commonly seen on the roads and the road toll in Victoria was over 1,000!! And how negligent of the Police to not know where you lived! You are such an important person - they have a duty to go around and have a chat. Maybe you could visit them and introduce yourself. Remember you're the local and they've more than likely moved far away from family and friends to try to make your little community a safer place to live. Good on you Willie and with an older vehicle like yours you should expect to be pulled up for a check from time to time.

Got pulled up by the blue light taxi tonight...the missus was driving....the cops live two doors up from us. [So there I am sitting in the passengers seat feeling like stirring the pot and I did.]

{{And you wouldn't believe it. The b@st@rd was rude back to me. Even though I'm not subservient he should be. For Gods sake I'm paying his wages. I'm deadset allowed to be rude to anyone and god help them if they talk back in an uncivil tongue.}}

My missus...."We are just going for a drive to see the Xmas lights"

"Yeah, thats what they all say"

{{And I'd be real surprised if anyone gets pulled up and volunteers that there as pi$$ed as a maggot. "No Constable, I can't blow into that I'm too pi$$ed to see it let alone blow into it"}}

She blows in the bag...no result.

Me:
"What is it with you people harassing the locals like this. Since the new laws have been passed to facilitate RBT you have been going out of your way to harrass the community" AND THEY HAVE !!!

{{No Willem. Got some real bad news for you but by stopping a number of people a number of times it shows that they are in fact doing what the government of the day, your elected government has dictated as an important issue and believe it or not, as was said in another post, I'm sure they'd rather be off doing other things as well. Mind you if I'm wrong about that I expect the government could amend it to say something like "RBT's are only to be conducted in a built up area with a population of over 15000 because no-one drives after drinking in small 2000 people towns.}}

"Sir, you sound a bit agressive"

{{And as you indicate yourself in the next paragraph you have no doubt he made an accurate and well founded assessment of your attitude at that time.}}

"Yes, I am aggressive because you Police go out of your way to harrass us when it is not necessary". "

{{Because as you'd know all bleep y drivers have neon lights flashing in their windows that say "pick me". If my neon light is not on I'm sober and can be trusted to not need stopping. And as I drive up towards you with my headlights on which would clearly affect your vision of whats coming towards you, the type of car and the amount of people in it I expect you to remain perfectly calm and polite no matter what I might say or do.It does not worry me at all that for the time that you are doing RBT's you are required to stand in the middle of the road while every Tom Dick and Mary drives there car towards you at the speed limit and they are sitting there hoping that you see them and stop - and more importantly hoping that if you are pi$$ed you are not so drunk as to not see them or see them and decide that your license is worth more than their life as you accelerate at them and to bad it they are too slow to get out of the way}}

And on top of that your bloody German Shepherd dog barks like mad every morning at 4am disturbing our sleep"

{{And of course you would have to know that was the case Constable because if I can hear it you must be hearing it. How rude of you not to know when I have not bothered to come down and let you know there is a problem that I would like you to help me solve. What do you mean you sleep like a log and don't hear a thing and your sorry but you just didn't know it was happening. Surely your not going to hide behind that old excuse.}}

"Who are you again sir?"
"I live two doors down from you and you do Not know?"
"Yes, well, no...Um...its the other dog that sets him off" "Where again do you live, sir?"
"You have never bothered to find out"
"No, well neither have you,sir"
"Hmmm...point taken BUT you have no sense of community...on the other hand I know who you are!"

{{Well I remember every person that I meet and I don't believe it is very good to live in this town and not know everyone of the residents already. For god sake man you've been here 5 minutes, what have you been doing for all that time. It does not matter that every person in town knows who you are and where you live and what you look like just because your the local plod and it is a good point to know who they are in case I go to do something wrong and you might be right there, even in your civvy clothes and off duty, because then I'll stop it and wait until you are gone. Hell I might even just not do it. Its important that I know where you live to in case I see or hear something at night that I don't care too much for because thats what I pay your wages for. I'll just come and knock on your door,wake your family and just know that they understand that I'm just expecting the service I pay my taxes for.}}

"Hmmmm...you're a bit agressive ,sir"
"Yeah, well now you know where we live."
"Where is that again, sir?"
"12xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxStreet."
"Oh, yes"
"This is a small town and the police would do well do facilitate a better community sspirit and awareness and stop harassing law abiding citizens when it is not necessary"
No reply.

{{I'm guessing by this time he was speechless wondering what sort of knob he was dealing with and what the point of it all was. At the end of the day all he wanted was Ms Willem to blow into his machine as is required by the law. When he could clearly see that not only was she pleasant and polite but she was also sober and in a capable condition to drive I reckon the next thing he would have wanted was to send her along to go and see her Xmas lights. She can't leave though, not because of anything the policeman say or does, its just the jumped up little attitude in the passengers seat, who had no reason to become involved, decides to become Ted Tough of the Space Cadets.

"Goodnight" We drive off and the missus says NOTHING! but I get the vibes. hahaha

Yes, I know the Police have a job to do but in a community of under 2000 people they should be more aware of their surroundings and what they are on about. This blanket conformity of ideas that everyone should be targeted as a potential villain, sucks. Maybe I will go down to the cop shop tomorrow and complain.

{{That should be good. Sergeant, last night I was out and about in my car. I was a passenger and your not going to believe what happened! A policeman, one of yours, acting in full compliance with the laws in this State randomly selected our car to be stopped and tested. For God's sake, he was polite, complied with the requirements of the RBT laws, found out my wife was not affected by alcohol and then he let us go. During this process I was an obnoxious little $hit in the passengers seat and no matter how rude I was to him he did not lean into the car, pull me out through the quarter vent and punch my lights out or hit me with the baton. What the hell is the Police Force coming to in this state.}}

I wonder how long it will be before I am going to be pulled up in the Orange Truck for an inspection. Time will tell.............

{{Willem, you are one of the reasons that i keep coming back to this Forum. You are informative and impart sound and well reasoned knowledge about a lot of things that I need to know.

I hope, and I really do hope, that this was just a windup that got the result you wanted because if its not then its really a bit of a letdown. Have a look at what you wrote to start it all and just tell me where this individual bloke went wrong. It might become a bit clearer to you and the others who are thinking the same way why those blokes are becoming less and less hospitable to the people that they deal with.

The distance from you door to his is the same as it is from his to yours. Been down there and introduced yourself to him or is that something that only he should do?

Don't be surprised if even after acting like a dipstick he still invites you in and talks to you in the polite manner that he did this time. After all, if he kicks you off the property and tells you your not welcome you can just go down the station and tell his boss he;s a bast@ard. He's got to be a decent person 24/7.

Who will he go and complain to about you tonight??}}

Dave

whats rbtyou reckon your cute
richard(eskimo)
but im a lot cuter

Hi Willem. A group of us got pulled up on the highway just outside of Leinster by a solo senior const at about 10.00 in the morning back in September this year. We were heading to Wiluna and had no idea what we'd done wrong. As you'd expect we were quite mystified particularly to encounter this guy out in the middle of absolutely nowhere. He then went about breath testing all of us who were driving. During the course of this he handed us a show bag full of driver ed material and a few novelity items which kept my 8yo quiet for about an hour. This guy was a real PR man. Very personable and went out of his way to give us some advice...some of it beneficial. Whilst he obviously had a quota to fulfill, and unlike the dedicated traffic blokes, this guy had a real sense of humour. On this occasion the 15 minutes lost was not really a problem and a good encounter allround.

So you may ask, where is luxoluk I headed with this. Well I just rekon you ought to consider dropping the guy you encountered a Christmas card!! You never know how much value this guy could be as a neighbour when in trouble or he may even just turn out to be a good bloke!!??

Have a merry Christmas Willem and happy new year. Cheers

Butcher Country Track

Just 2 quick points to make after reading some responses;

1. The police don't make laws-they enforce them.

2. The police charge people, the DPP and the courts drop charges and sentence people.

Like or hate them, they will answer your call of distress if ever its needed.

Tim

Has been an interesting forum point but I can see why we get different reactions from police people depending on who they had contact with last and their interpersonal skill balance.

I have been stopped on occasions when I was quite legitimately pulled up for speeding. +17 kms over the 100, and let off with a warning those two times. It depends on the way you react to sitiuations. Once was East of Bonz home town at night and I luckily slowed to have him catch me easily. I had just passed a truck, I had not seen him but my passenger had.

There was another time when I had followed a truck near my home town in a 80kmh zone with a white line I waited to break to see if anything was coming. There were two or three coming including a police car which switched his lights as I pulled the nose out to look.

It has been the only time I got to be agressive and I had right on my side as he admitted he did not know the area well enough to see where the lines broke. He did not get out of his vehicle but had disrupted the traffic and knew it.

A few weeks ago we had a quad stolen from the shed ( yeh they got a baddie anyway and was to be recalled, but was the newest of the group ) and the police officer came to my home to get details. He was quite unsure of himself as I offered a cup of tea as I was having one and a place at the table to write his report. I wonder whose truck he had stopped the nights before.

Talked to a sargeant last week who marvels at the change in his life going to a country town and not always being recognised as a police person. In the Lions club and social position he could not have had recognised in the city. He had not realised he would enjoy the posting so much it has been extended five fold.

It always takes attitude both sides to enjoy harmony or disharmony. I don't often think there is need to stir the pot, but sometimes I have found a need. We need them as they need us. I don't think their training is toward the harmony as much as coping with difficult situations. That can make trusting people difficult. No need to make it worse or we can be pulling out own roof in on us.

I don't like them doing the governments bidding though, they generally exercise restraint - not always. They have a difficult job to do. More reactions make life more difficult I believe I have shown.Regards

JohnR - Not enough of the right travelling, some here..... some over there.......

I am very suprised at you Willem , ( noticed I spelt your name right lol ) my guess is that it was the opening coment of the officer that sparked you off .

Little story

Last week , Paul was dropping a car off for me and ran out of petrol just on the westgate bridge . As he started walking over the bridge , he was confronted by a officer who started with , it cant be all that bad , think of what you are doing . Paul looked at the officer confused , and replied , I have run ouy of petrol . Now its 36 deg. and Paul isn't looking the best lol . The officer states , Mate it can happen to anyone , there is no need to jump . The penny drops. Paul reply , mate the servo is on the other side of the bridge , how do you want me to get there swim ? The is a silence when the officer bursts out laughing , sorry mate jump in , ill give you a lift for my stuppidity lol Venus Bay

G'day Willie,
Now you are causing problems for me. We my counterpart in Pirie anyway.
If you get Santa's reindeer to crap on that wallopers roof, It's us poor hardworking blokes have to organise someone to go and clean it up and at Taxpayer's expense.
Sorry I took so long to reply but been off crook and been to the big smoke for a couple of days.
Unfortunately your local walloper is getting a hard time from his headquarters group at the moment but it doesn't mean that he doesn't have to have good PR skills.
Have a good Xmas to you, Judith and the dog. See you in the new year.ne cede malis

Willem - If you story is accurate then you need to wake up. It is okay to have a light hearted joke with the coppers but to get aggressive as you say you did is over the top. They are only doing a job, one that a lot of people do not have the guts to do. You seem to be a pretty informative on 4 wheel driving etc and obviously have a great time doing it. But somehow I cannot imagine you standing in torrential rain helping to pull an innocent fdying person from a wreck after having hit by a drunk driver. Or going around to a persons place on Xmas Eve to inform them that their loved one has just been killed by a speeding driver. I suggest that you go up to this copper and invite him for a drink for Xmas. Then he might realise that you are not the idiot you have made yourself out to be. Some years ago i had to attend a triple funeral on Xmas Eve of a female friend who along with her mother and grand mother had been killed by a speeding driver who fell asleep at the wheel. Now that put a dampener on the Xmas spirit.

By the way don't feel picked on by being pulled over once. I work for them, not a cop but their administration manager, and I got pulled over three times in five nights and had to blow into the machine. I would expect nothing less.

I also get to see their grief and trauma from road accidents.

Have a great xmas and humble New Year - GaryDead in the City - Alive in the Bush

Oh Willem, it appears that the lesson has "endeth" here. And you need not worry about reindeer poo on your roof as father christmas will be toooo scared to visit your less than "humble abode". Bad boy willy.

....just wanted the last word willy, ya gotta laugh..."zymotic"!