When the notice arrived in the post today informing me that my driver's licence is to be suspended next Tuesday 15th November 2011, I felt quite sick - it's clearly getting to the 'bureaucratic businessy-bit' of bicycle helmet crime and the pink & white paper is intended to be a frightening jolt - it was & I nearly jumped on-line...
BUT...
...the inequity & the procedural unfairness of it all prevented me from typing in the numbers from my plastic bank - this scary piece of paper is not representative of a fair hearing.
Right from the start in March this year when the Victims Compensation Levy was amended, NSW voters and legislators objected to 'Section 10(1)(a) dismissalees' (aka me) being automatically caught in its web. Consequently no-one was surprised a few weeks ago when the NSW Parliament subsequently rejected it.
Yet the AG will not grant me an exemption.
Why not?
What else do I have to do to get one?
What exactly did the ones who got them do?
Surely the pile of letters from me to him (& pointlessly supplied to the SDRO and the Muswellbrook Local Court who never communicate with each other) is testimony to the fact that this matter has given me great cause for concern and therefore might raise the notion that I could be an eligible candidate for exemption.
I am troubled by the arbitrariness of the whole process.
Even though the amendment was acknowledged by Parliament as grossly unfair, now an unwieldy departmental-time-warp has kicked-in & refuses to allow the 'outlaw' fine to be waived for my non-existent crime that should never have been a crime and is now no longer a crime.
Who can absolve me from the whims of administrative NSW justice?
What has a driving licence got to do with not paying a "victim" fine for an offence that was dismissed?
ReplyDeleteIf they take your licence to drive away, surely they're encouraging more of your lawless bicycle behaviour?
Sadly the opposite of logic is politics, it seems.
NSW doesn't issue exemptions, even if you have a medical certificate. The logic of stopping people cycling just because they can't wear a helmet is totally bizarre and counter-productive.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, people have been brainwashed into believing in helmets. So our politicians commission "research" to support helmet laws and would rather stop people cycling than admit they were wrong and that the health benefits of cycling save many more lives than could possibly be saved by bicycle helmets.
Sue,
ReplyDeleteThat's really unjust and plain stupid. It's exactly what happens when bad laws become commonplace.
It might be worth contacting your local Member of Parliament at this stage and seeing what he/she can do for you.
Whatever you decide, I'm behind you 100%.
...upside: great time of year not to be able to drive!!!!
ReplyDeleteBut on a more serious note, I will be contacting my local member as well as the Hon. David Shoebridge MLC who I must say has been most supportive to date
...it's all very exasperating, unnecessary and really costly for taxpayers - these sorts of punitive schemes cost a 'bomb' to run and are completely indulgent.
Sue, just catching up on your posts from the madness that is going on here in London.
ReplyDeleteIt's not for me to say whether you should pay the fine or not but I certainly hope that you don't lose your license.
Keep fighting the good fight, but don't forget to look after yourself as well - you've already given so much to this cause.
When we come back to live in AU in 2012 I really don't know what I'm going to do about the helmet issue... lots of food for thought.