Call to fine cars that break down. Vic.

[brenx]

I have ran out of diesel on a fwy. I would have been ****ed if I'd got a fine. The gauge was reading quarter of a tank and I'd ran the tank close to the empty mark many times as it was my regular ride.

Ford would get sued for their egas vehicles gauges as they are dodgy as hell. Mine regularly says empty when it's full and visa versa. Then wakes up again 5 mins later.

I currently drive an 2011 mdl truck and guess what? The fuel gauge rarely shows anything but empty. The truck has 25000k's on it. I have driven this truck since it was delivered new. Most of the fleet has the same issue.

Acco's would need to be taken off the road. Their gauges are woeful.

I know of a 2011 daf truck that runs out of diesel just after the gauge drops below 1/2. Lol

The hope of this ever coming in? Hopefully never but when the gov co sees a cash cow they go for it.

[Stagg]

It does seem a bit silly any way you look at it... breakdowns regardless of when, where, or what car will happen at some point and is purely coincidental at the time.

Correct, a broken down car frustrates thousands of motorists, but it's not their fault, nor should they be fined for it IMO.

Wouldn't it make more sense to not cut back on the number of emergency vehicles on the road? There seems to be a lot of cutbacks with the latest budget anyway...

[Auslandau]

Originally Posted by onfire

I think that's the difference right there. If the car is a pos, yes fine the owner.

A genuine problem, sure.. you'd probably have the option to dispute it as you would a speeding or parking fine.

Yes but they should fine the person for driving a POS though ..... Not because they broke down. But because they are driving a POS!

They are removing so many emergency lanes in Melbournes freeways so of course when a couple of the 10's of 10000's of cars per day break its going to be poo for everyone behind them.

Last week my 6 month old falcon got a puncture on the monash. If I got a fine for pulling over, in the state of mind I was in at the time, I think they would have locked me up!

[irish2]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Anybody here never run out of fuel...?

Never run out of fuel here. Have racked up over 200,000k's in my measly 11 years on the roads and most of that time was in car with a fuel gauge that did not work. It was a simple as resetting the trip computer and keeping an eye on it. I knew how many k's I could do to leave about 15 litres in the tank.

[blueoval]

Originally Posted by irish2

Never run out of fuel here. Have racked up over 200,000k's in my measly 11 years on the roads and most of that time was in car with a fuel gauge that did not work. It was a simple as resetting the trip computer and keeping an eye on it. I knew how many k's I could do to leave about 15 litres in the tank.

I took on this method straight after I had my ordeal.

[vanman_75]

Lol at trip computer ...although now common , many cars haven't had it long and many more still don't ..

[Ben73]

There is always the idiot who will have there low fuel light ON and they will think to themselves. "Just 20 more kms to the next shell so I can use my discount of 4 cents a litre I got from coles". They then will break down 3kms later after passing 5 servos.

These types of people deserve a fine. Enforcing it is probably too much work, so they will just fine everyone who breaks down instead

[sudszy]

Originally Posted by vanman_75

Lol at trip computer ...although now common , many cars haven't had it long and many more still don't ..

what about an odometer(that little thing with the digits that go around on a spindle or get displayed on an lcd if you have one of those new fangled cars), and a pencil to write down the reading when you last filled it and a post it note to stick on the dash.......perhaps even a calculator so you can work out the difference

people will find any excuse.........

[Auslandau]

Originally Posted by sudszy

what about an odometer(that little thing with the digits that go around on a spindle or get displayed on an lcd if you have one of those new fangled cars), and a pencil to write down the reading when you last filled it and a post it note to stick on the dash.......perhaps even a calculator so you can work out the difference

people will find any excuse.........

Agree. Damn them. Damn them all to hell I say. 5 years jail should snap them back to reality!

[vanman_75]

Sudzy true you do that ...mate I got big screen dte , and this ain't an argument how to make sure you don't run out of fuel ...you sir are a legend who surely never runs out of fuel , never runs out of eggs and your milk is always in date , I surely will bow down to you .

End sarcasm ...the fines are stupid end of story , where does it end

[ray38l]

stupid idea. I have been in 2 cars when the alternator have packed it in. you get very little warning of it happening. normally you notice the gauges playing up and that's it.
the last time it happened was on the gold coast highway near cavill avenue. we were in the right lane in peak hour traffic and the gauges stopped working. by the the time we noticed something was up it was to late and the car died in the middle of traffic. there is no test to determine when the alternator will fail.
if these rules were in would we be deserving of a fine in this situation?

[Maka]

Time for some road infrastructure upgrades?

cheers,Maka

[XR6WGN]

What will I do?? I have what I've termed a "lazy car" every now and then it decides that it doesn't want to drive home and it hitches a lift with the RAA's tow truck.
Yes, mine has some monumental breakdowns over the years I've owned it and I can put my hand on my heart and say not one of them has been caused through my neglect of the car.

Cars are mechanical - mechanical parts do break and unfortunately it will always happen in the worst possible place or time. Yes it can cause chaos - if you're stuck in traffic, turn the car off and read the paper or worse still talk to your fellow motorists.

Fine cars that breakdown - What a Stupid concept!!!!

[No.6]

LOL. what an idea. If it happens, i can't wait to see the lawsuits against mechanics and manufacturers. This wont solve the peak hour traffic problem. The motorways are clogged not because of breakdowns, but because the stupid state or federal governments dont know how to play simcity properly!

[GreenR]

What if the car's fuel pump fails, gauge stops reading etc? I think fines for running out of fuel is a bit rich considering there could be legitimate unforeseen reasons.

[Geez Louise]

Like the cost of rising fuel costs..?.

That is probably not as silly as it sounds. With fuel being so costly, not everyone is putting in as much as they use too. I can see a lot more cars running out of petrol in the future..

Cheers
Col

[FPVGT500]

This is becoming rediculous, im sorry to say but oneday Australia might have protests like the middle east are getting because of these cows running this country.....

[ED Classic]

If they are serious about it being due to breakdowns hindering traffic flow they would remove all level crossings for a start. Wait a minute thats costs $ not makes $

[SteveJH]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Anybody here never run out of fuel...?

Well, I've managed to successfully avoid it so far (seven years).

And now that i've said that......

[MWTB]

What's next? The EPA fining people for the thousandths of a millimeter of rubber their tires leave on the road per 100kms? Rubber tax they could call it. Implement it in a similar way to the congestion charge in London. Call them up and tell the lady on the other end what model car and how big the wheel is, adding 25% for each inch in size your wheel is above 15" and then an extra 10% for every half inch your wheel is wider than 8". Oh and don't forget the extra tax for the brand. If you have Achilles like the cool kids like myself with 20" wheels but cheaped out on tires you pay the 'Cheap C***' tax, and then if you have expensive Pirelli's you pay the 'Rich C***' tax @ 75% of the total tax of the size of your wheel.

What a joke.

[wrongwaynorris]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Had to laugh, watching the news there was a story that in one place in the USA (New Jersey?) Police has started to issue tickets to people texting on mobile phones while walking!!

Seems that too many people walk out in front of cars and get run over....

I can testify to this as I have nearly hit dozens of morons doing just this in Sydney CBD ( as well as having earphones in their ears and being totally oblivious to thousands of 2 tonne objects not more than a metre away from them ) . Sadly you hit the horn and the brakes saving these worthless xxxxholes lives and all you cop is a spray from them . I once showed a guy the wrong end of a hiding because he kicked and damaged my car after I saved his miserable useless life . I am so sorely tempted to just run them over and use the defense of they just stepped out in front of me without any warning . These are all people so richly deserving of a Darwin award .

[TMC]

Originally Posted by joolz

Saw this in the news today and had to laugh but im sure it will become law someday.
To be fined if your car breaks down an any major Melbourne arterial during peak hour (basically all day) is IMO stupid. Unless its due to neglect of the vehicle like running out of fuel.

Its not like we go out of our way to break down.

A while back in my EL on the way to Adelaide from Melbourne i got around 10k's from home and the engine just stopped. After getting a tow truck home and several hours later it was the fuel pump. Now these cannot be serviced nor can you predict when they may go. Now if this was to happen under these stupid laws i would have copped a fine on top of the tow and repairs.

Is it just me but motorists are just revenue for the Gov!

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/mor...-1226354236410

The EL TFI modules in the distributor blow up without warning too. No fault of the owner. What a stupid idea. The emergency lane should be for these situations. If they designed roads properly from the beginning, then a broken down car would only create a slight momentary hassle in peak hour.

[jrfttf]

Think the whole breakdown and be pinged is just another way to fill up the pockets of the government!!!!

[BHDOGS]

yes those dam liberal victorian government all they want is the cash.

[V8XTasy]

on the one side, I've never heard of so many break downs in my 20 years of driving until I came to Melbourne. The number of times the ring road is completely blocked, causing total chaos and normally crashes due to the queues, all due to a break down is beyond belief. There are many issues here; lack of vehicle maintainance due to no annual RWC, lot of very old vehicles on the road, drivers driving too close together so when someone breaks down they can't make it to the emergency lane, people's insistance on continuing to drive as far as possible in a terminally failing vehicle, then just stopping in the lane. All that needs to be sorting in a different way, because fining for breaking down will also catch out all the people who regularly maintain their cars, yet are let down my the manufacturers poor quality or poor servicing that they've paid good money for. I do believe that you should pay for your vehicle recovery though and if you don't have break down cover, then you have to pay a premium. You shouldn't be allowed to leave your car blocking the road until a mate finishes work and is able to tow you away. That would just be inconsiderate to other drivers.

People running out of fuel however, is another matter. The RACV reports 50% of break downs are due to running out of fuel. Considering half of the ring road queues are due to cars breaking down, that means 1 in 4 times that you are queued up for hours in traffic is because someone couldn't be bothered to put fuel in their car. And believe me, that happens a lot. These people should be fined for causing necessary chaos, danger and inconvenience on the roads. How much do these queues cost industry in lost time? Lots, because of some lazy a'sole. Yet some people (who I speak to), running the fuel guage down as low as possible seems to be some sort of challenge, without a single thought for the consequences. It's no wonder people do this though, when you actually get free fuel for causing all of this chaos and danger if it happens on the east link.

[crazy67]

This is a load of crap!! How can you fine someone who has broken down when they have no control over their action..how are they to know their car is going to break down ..Asif they do it on purpose!

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by flappist

It is not a tax nor is it government policy.

It is just the same group of idiot do-gooder car haters raving on over crap about which they have no idea trying to get media attention which of course always sets off the second tier idiot do-gooder car haters in a frenzy to support the first tier idiot do-gooder car haters by means of talk back radio and even internet forums.

idiot do-gooder that was inconvenienced this morning... What a stupid idea. I thought that's what emergency pull-over lanes were for?

[Miss_XR6]

I can understand frustration when idiots forget to put petrol in and they break down and cause major taffic congestion
However if you are driving along and your radiators goes/water pump or engine shuts down they shouldnt fine you

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by DJM83

I reckon an annual RWC should be mandatory. When i was living in NSW the amount of poorly maintained cars was no where near as bad as in Vic or QLD (plenty up here)

But stick with the 3 year rule (No car 3 years or newer needs one)

A fact, the reason why Victoria has not gone down the mandatory RWC path is that is proven by FACTS collected over many years that less than 1% of all cars that are involved in fatal or near fatal motor vehicle incidents are proven to be unroadworthy.




I think I have seen on one of them New Zealand Police shows that people can booked when their cars breakdown on the freeways (motorways)

[mash again]

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

I can testify to this as I have nearly hit dozens of morons doing just this in Sydney CBD ( as well as having earphones in their ears and being totally oblivious to thousands of 2 tonne objects not more than a metre away from them ) . Sadly you hit the horn and the brakes saving these worthless xxxxholes lives and all you cop is a spray from them . I once showed a guy the wrong end of a hiding because he kicked and damaged my car after I saved his miserable useless life . I am so sorely tempted to just run them over and use the defense of they just stepped out in front of me without any warning . These are all people so richly deserving of a Darwin award .

Dont fine these people, let nature take its course, its a self fixing problem