What a bloody unrealistic Nanna Republic country we live in... who do we blame? the baby boomers?
George, 3kmh is contestable and DONT PAY IT. Even vehicles sold off the 2012 showroom floor do not have TRUE speedo calibration.
Once you accept a fine and pay for it, you've admitted liability. IMO always contest a fine for <10% over the speed limit.
I think we're all used to pushing the boundary and forget that the signposted limit is THE MAXIMUM speed you are permitted to drive on that particular road - not the slowest speed. But do be done for 3kmh over the limit... absolutely apalling and should never have occured.
Do yourself a favour and hook up a GPS to your car and go driving.... your speedo should read 5-12kmh less than the true speed you are actually doing according to the GPS. If you can test it with another GPS, by all means do so
I know in my UF Nimbus, I have to have the needle just over 120kmh to get the GPS to read 110kmh limit. This explains why Ive driven past many radars at 120kmh (on speedo) and never been pullled over or fined [touch wood]. Or perhaps the Nimbus is really good at being the ultimate incognito daily??
One of my ex cop friends told me that they used to set their radar up at 17kmh over the legal speed limit in high speed environments/ black spot areas/ areas with a history of accidents (high speed >= 80kmh) to accomodate for speedo discrepancies - thats a fair line to draw in the sand in my opinion. Therefore if their radar picked you up at 18kmh over the signposted speed limit (say 98kmh), you're booked for the speed they actually get you for = 98kmh.
The RMS of NSW arent introducing more fixed speed cameras, its actually quite the opposite. They've already commenced decommisioning them across the state. Also the NSW Police cant even fund the maintenance of their fixed red light cameras, speed cameras etc so many just sit there for months even years doormant and unoperational. This isnt a reason to let your guard down, because the number of mobile speed cameras have increased... and no GPS can warn you beforehand about where those are! :wacko: