Hundreds given on-the-spot fine for breaking little-known road rule
Police have started cracking down on pedestrians for breaking one major rule around Sydney’s new light rail, with hundreds of people being penalised.
Between December 2019 and January 2020 NSW Police conducted a Pedestrian Compliance Operation are the light rail route in the CBD and Kensington areas.
This resulted in 253 infringements which were issued to those who failed to follow traffic signals.
The offence is penalised with an on-the-spot fine of $76, with police saying the rule is put in place to help reduce the risk of pedestrians getting injured.
“This operation aims to reduce the risk of collisions involving pedestrians through education and enforcement at locations identified as high-risk areas,” said NSW Police.
“So far this year, three pedestrians have died on NSW roads.”
A photo of a policewoman issuing a fine to a pedestrian was posted to Reddit on Monday, sparking a debate as to whether handing out fines was fair.
Many believe it’s a form of “revenue raising” and that people should be given warnings instead of a penalty.
“But how about issuing warnings instead of fines? Surely that will get the point across just as well?” asked one person.
“The fines are completely unnecessary, and people are right to be calling this out as a revenue raising exercise.”
Another agreed, saying penalising pedestrians for this act was the “epitome of a nanny state”.
But despite the outcry, many disagreed saying that it was a matter of safety.
“Not revenue raising when it’s trying to promote public safety,” said one person.
“Was walking behind a chick that clearly saw these cops this morning, jaywalked anyway then acted surprised when she got a fine. There were about six of them in high vis, couldn’t have been more obvious,” wrote another.
Police are urging people to always use pedestrian crossings, and to wait for all vehicles to come to a complete stop before crossing the road.