Infringement notices

Infringement notices

If you’ve faced the dreaded red & blue lights in the rear view mirror, you’ll know that there’s rarely ever a compliment on your driving about to come.

Before you get an infringement notice, read our guide on keeping yourself on the straight and narrow.

Infringement notices are issued as a way to avoid the time and hassle of appearing in court for offences on the road. In Queensland, the police will issue infringement notices for any minor offence that breaks the road rules.

ROADWORTHINESS

In Queensland, you only require a safety certificate (previously known as a roadworthy certificate or RWC) when you first register a car, or transfer title through a sale. Generally, if you keep a regular servicing schedule, your car will be roadworthy – but cars have lots of things that you can’t see when you’re driving that may break causing your car to become unroadworthy in the eyes of the law.

Tyres, lights and body rust or damage are easily visible and it’s good to check your car in between scheduled services for anything that needs attention.

Your tyres must have a minimum tread depth of 1.5mm in contact with the road, and tyres will have ‘tread blocks’ and when the rubber is worn down to these, your tyres have a lack of tread to be effective. If you’re having trouble stopping, or controlling your car when turning, think about bringing your car in for a service to mention it to a service advisor.

Lights also have to be in working order, and any significant damage to your car will have the police pulling you up for it, so it’s always a good idea to just have a quick walk around your car before you set off to see if you can notice anything.

MODIFICATIONS

How you modify and upgrade your car is your choice, but there are limits and regulations to make sure that modifications are safe for you and other road users. For example, there is a restriction on how dark you can tint windows – you can only reduce the transmission of light by 35%. That’s from clear glass, so if your car came out of the factory with tinted windows or privacy glass, you can’t buy a roll of 35% and apply it legally.

Similarly, if you’re planning on modifying your car to get a better sound from the exhaust or altering the suspension to achieve a different profile on your car, the cops may sting you for modifying your car illegally.

ROAD RULES

Probably the most common offence that you will receive an infringement notice for is when you break a road rule. Because there are, unfortunately, a lot of people are caught speeding or running red lights, you’re just given a ticket – rather than tie up the courts.

It’s generally sent to the same address your car is registered at – so if you’ve moved, or your car isn’t registered to your home address, make sure you update your details so that you don’t have an unpaid fine against your name.If you want to dispute your infringement notice, you can elect to appear in court, but you may end up with a bigger fine than you started with if the judge decides against you. And if you weren’t driving your car (such as if it was stolen, or a friend was behind the wheel) infringement notices will come with a statutory declaration to pass on the fine to the person responsible.

The best way to avoid an infringement notice is to make sure your car is well-maintained, and to obey the road rules, and if your worried about your car running a little rough, bring it in to Motorama and our expert service team can have a look at all the important parts to get you safely back on the road.