I went to my post box today to clear the mail. It's been two weeks since this has been done. I've been away. I work from home; the post box is in the city. It doesn't get cleared often. I do this when I'm in the office for work.
On the expected items in the box, other than a couple of bills for the masons, was that speeding ticket from last week. The South Australian Government will be wanting their $541. Yes, it's a stiff fine, and yes, I'm a bit shitty about it, but it happens to the best of us. This is the first speeding fine I've had in 15 years. I've only had one other - a red light camera nabbed me then. I was on the way to a kid's birthday party. The child is turning 20 in a couple of weeks.
So, I go clear the box.
The box is fuller than normal. There were four bills for the masons. Thankfully they're all sorted through direct debits. The paperwork needs to be handed over to somebody in the next few weeks. Too easy.
The expected speeding fine was also in the box. I have to think about a couple of things. As it is a sizeable fine ($541) do I just pay it outright or put it on a payment plan and pay it off over a couple of months to take the sting out of it. I have a few weeks to think about this. I won't contest it. No point. As this one was doing more than 10 kph over then limit, they don't look kindly on it, good driving record or now. Besides, if I was to contest it, the court sitting would be in Adelaide - I'd spend more getting over there to make a case.
What wasn't expected was another speeding ticket.
Yeah, a second one.
I was pinged doing 45 in a 40 zone late last year, just up the road by a red-light camera.
Another $240 fine.
The daft things about this is that where this happened is a school zone. But on the day, it happened, a Monday afternoon, school wasn't in. I mean who in their right mind sends their kids to Methodist Ladies College and expects them to be in school the week before Christmas. I just doesn't happen.
As it's a red-light camera fine, it's one demerit point. It was also me probably rushing to get through an amber light. I have a feeling I remember the camera flash. From memory, there was nobody on the road.
Again, do I go down the road of contesting this? Probably not.
Speaking to a friend about this, who's an astrologer, she made the point that speeding fines were the universes way of telling you to slow down. (Just as parking fines are telling you to mind your boundaries.
What pisses me off most of all is that for the amount of the combined fines, I got myself over to Europe last year.
We won't think about that, knuckle down, save some funds and be very diligent about how fast I go in future.
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