Fines, Tickets, Insurance "I Was in The Wrong" and/or "How Do I Get out of." Posts

pegaxs on 02/12/2017 - 23:54
Last edited 02/12/2017 - 23:55

It's just a question or two I would like to throw out there…

I frequent the "Automotive" forum on OzB. mostly. I enjoy helping people out with my vast experience within the car, bike and truck related industry, but I have noticed that there is a large amount of questions posted where OP is wrong and seeks information on how to get out of paying a fine or trying to get out of paying for damage to others property due to no insurance.

While I am generally helpful and enjoy researching things to assist my own knowledge, I feel as though it's getting a bit out of hand. If OP is genuine and can validate their side of the story, (photos, videos, etc) then it seems a worthwhile endeavour. If it's solely for the reason of shirking off a fine, or didn’t have the insurance, maybe it's time we slowed these post down…

Each time I see one of these questions posted (where OP is in the wrong) it comes down to a few of the same elements;

  • A: It's already been answered a million times. (Use the search button.)
  • B: OP is in the wrong and incurs the wrath of the community. (Great for the lulz.)
  • C: It's a festival of guessing and misinformation. (This doesn’t help anyone.)

So, I guess my question is, what is the community's thoughts on these types of posts? Should we keep them, restrict them to more legitimate questions or should they just ban/lock them as they appear? I would like to hear what you think and/or ideas on what to do…

Poll Options

  • 0
    Ban/Lock them. It's already been asked/OP is in the wrong.
  • 1
    Restrict them to genuine questions with proof.
  • 17
    Open season! I love seeing OP cop the wrath.
  • 34
    Leave it open. Everyone has a right to ask anything.
  • 3
    Why cant we NEG the questions, only the comments??
Automotive

Comments

  • bobbified on 03/12/2017 - 00:20
    +3

    I'd say to leave it open.

    We've got a whole community here from all walks of life so what might be obvious to some may not be so obvious to others.

    If I use the example with the private car parks, I think lots of people would assume it's a "fine" and just pay it. But having come here, they've now learnt that they don't actually have to pay because it's not a fine as such. Some people would've known how the whole system works and some people wouldn't have even heard about it before.

    If it's solely for the reason of shirking off a fine..

    Honestly, who really likes paying a fine if there's a way to get out of it? After all, this is a forum where everyone's trying to save money! haha

    I do agree that there are some really lazy posts where a quick search will reveal the answer, but that's not limited to the automotive section.

    If there's any posts that annoy anyone for whatever reason, then they can easily just skip it.

    Once "bans" on certain posts are introduced, it becomes very difficult to draw the line between what's acceptable and what's not. Everyone's going to have a different opinion on that.

  • hell0 on 03/12/2017 - 00:55

    Not everybody has had your level of life experience and so I vote for "Leave it open. Everyone has a right to ask anything."

    • SydStrand on 03/12/2017 - 03:19

      Life experience is not a prerequisite to avoiding fines. If you have a license to drive in Australia, road laws are assumed knowledge, and you passed both the MCQ and skills test. EVERY thread asking how to weasel out of fines can be boiled down to 'yeah, I was at fault, but-' No. Only a handful of scenarios with legitimate cause are worth disputing, e.g. damaged signage, the other 99% of the time it's on the OP. If it were easy to weasel out of fines, we'd all be doing it; and disputing one is often a long, tiresome process, so just eat the fine and take it as an expensive lesson for the future. I've never seen any meaningful advice to these pointless threads.

  • try2bhelpful on 03/12/2017 - 07:15
    +3

    I agree the blatant ones are frustrating, but, sometimes, people don’t understand their rights and feel intimidated. Personally, I think third party property should be compulsory so innocent people are covered in case of an accident.

    We’ve had a couple of times where we didn’t have to pay fines. One was where the relevant street sign had been ripped out of the ground and discarded and the other was a parking fine where it turned out the inspector had written down the wrong number plate. When we queried it, funnily enough, we didn’t own the Ferrari that incurred the fine but were willing to pay the fine in exchange for the car. We know the number plate was wrong because we saw the same f…er”s car illegally parked a short time later and saw the similar number plate. It was like pulling teeth trying to get the person on the phone to give us details about the car so we could refute it.

  • Ocker on 03/12/2017 - 09:35

    Seems to me like quite a sanctimonious approach to the subject

    • pegaxs on 03/12/2017 - 11:22

      Happy to hear your alternative.

      • CMH on 09/12/2017 - 00:01
        1. Prepare a pre-written answer with pre-researched links to each topic, and use those whenever you see a question you think is part of A, B or C.
        2. Ignore any topic you feel should be banned.

        I can think of a few more, but I think it would more likely be subsections of 1 or 2.

  • myusername on 05/12/2017 - 14:20
    +1

    leave it open

    sometimes it's the only laugh i get all day

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