Driver's 'harsh' penalty for seemingly innocent act
A Sydney motorist has learned a costly lesson about driver safety, after being slapped with a massive fine for an on-road hack attempt.
The 23-year-old driver was seen on Wednesday morning traveling along Broadway at Chippendale, in Sydney’s inner city, with two A4 sheets of paper stuck across her driver’s side window.
It was 9.45am when police officers pulled over the young driver, who told them she put the sheets up because it was “too sunny”.
She was fined $344 and three demerit points for driving a vehicle without clear view.
Sharing a picture to Facebook of the woman’s window with the paper sheets attached, NSW Police Force said it “clearly obscured her vision out the driver’s window”.
“The driver removed the papers and was then allowed to leave,” the police added.
It is not known if the motorist had a pair of sunglasses handy, but many suggested that would have been a far cheaper solution to her glaring error.
Another joked: “Officers were afraid to throw the book at her as she might use pages from it to cover her car in the future.”
One man argued the penalty was a bit much, saying: “Not a big offence. Maybe a warning on this one....3pts is a bit harsh.”
But others thought the punishment for the safety breach was fitting.
“Would you like to be on a bike sitting next to her when she doesn’t see you and merges into you? I would say it’s justified,” one man wrote.
It appears the dangerous practice of obscuring the driver’s side window was not uncommon, as many reported noticing other drivers with items like towels in their front windows.
“Just like the guy driving down the M5 yesterday with a towel wound up in the drivers side window (just like people do for babies), I'm guessing for the same reason,” one wrote. “Couldn't believe it.”
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