here's tonight's law and policing-related story:
i was driving home from the train station in the dark and wet. when i started my car and turned on the lights, my high-beams were on so i flicked the switch back a notch and assumed my normal driving lights were on. my console display was lit, so i assumed all was good.
since the beginning of the trip i'd covered about 2-3kms of well-lit, medium traffic roads, with cars ahead of me at almost all times. i was not aware of any malfunction of my driving lights.
as i went up the slight incline of one main road, i saw a vehicle about 50 - 100 metres down the road with its low-beam on, and then it flashed me with its high beam. not knowing why, i flashed it back with mine. as we drove past each other, it turned on the familiar red and blue blinkers and through my rear-vision mirror i became aware it was a police vehicle.
i immediately pulled over and it pulled over behind me. the officers were cordial and asked me to undergo a random-breath test. they informed me that my lights weren't on. i said but they're on. they said that before i flashed them my lights were on low-beam. if that was so, i was not aware of the fact, because my centre console was on.
my breath test turned out negative (so it should be), but they had a look at my drivers license. i showed them, whereupon one officer photographed it using a digital camera. then i apologised for their troubles and they left me without issuing an infringement notice or anything of the sort.
my only concern is their capture of my personal details. whereas if i had committed an offence, which i argue that i did not, under s215 of the Australian Road Rules, then what power, other than that of requesting personal details, do they have in collecting personal details?
the end.
i was driving home from the train station in the dark and wet. when i started my car and turned on the lights, my high-beams were on so i flicked the switch back a notch and assumed my normal driving lights were on. my console display was lit, so i assumed all was good.
since the beginning of the trip i'd covered about 2-3kms of well-lit, medium traffic roads, with cars ahead of me at almost all times. i was not aware of any malfunction of my driving lights.
as i went up the slight incline of one main road, i saw a vehicle about 50 - 100 metres down the road with its low-beam on, and then it flashed me with its high beam. not knowing why, i flashed it back with mine. as we drove past each other, it turned on the familiar red and blue blinkers and through my rear-vision mirror i became aware it was a police vehicle.
i immediately pulled over and it pulled over behind me. the officers were cordial and asked me to undergo a random-breath test. they informed me that my lights weren't on. i said but they're on. they said that before i flashed them my lights were on low-beam. if that was so, i was not aware of the fact, because my centre console was on.
my breath test turned out negative (so it should be), but they had a look at my drivers license. i showed them, whereupon one officer photographed it using a digital camera. then i apologised for their troubles and they left me without issuing an infringement notice or anything of the sort.
my only concern is their capture of my personal details. whereas if i had committed an offence, which i argue that i did not, under s215 of the Australian Road Rules, then what power, other than that of requesting personal details, do they have in collecting personal details?
the end.
