Caught Speeding: Victoria's Top Traffic Cop

Radar
Jan 15, 2010
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Commissioner for Road Policing, Ken Lay has been nabbed for exceeding the speed limit by 10km/h while passing through a country town.

Writing in a newspaper column this week, Mr Lay said his first knowledge of the offence came when he received a penalty notice in the mail, including a fine and the loss of three demerit points.

Caught travelling at 80km/h in a 70km/h zone in the central Victorian town of Tooborac, the Deputy Commissioner has publicly apologised for his transgression.

Mr Lay acknowledged that his lapse in judgement, which he said may have been due to fatigue or distraction, has let down his colleagues and family and tarnished the Police Force's efforts in educating the driving public.

 

"If some good can come out of this it's a message to the rest of the community that this sort of driving can happen to anyone, Whether it's the Deputy Commissioner or anyone else driving a motor car," Mr Lay wrote.

 

To his credit, the offence is Mr Lay's first in 35 years. Mr Lay said that while his good record would have given him grounds to request a warning, he has accepted the penalty as a show of responsibility for his role as Victoria's top traffic cop.


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Comments

  • Steven [reply]
    7 months ago 0 points
    So we get fined for being human now? This outlines exactly why fines are not sensible for small errors in judgement like this.

    What did a fine accomplish if he had killed someone due to fatigue? Nothing. There should be signs that warn you how fast you are going. They have been PROVEN to be safer and make the roads safer by REMINDING us there and then of our LAPSE IN JUDGEMENT which we can correct immediately.

    If any government had an interest in making the roads safer they would install these instead of a bunch of SCAMeras.
  • Pitty [reply]
    7 months ago 0 points
    but credit to the guy really, 35 years without an offence and then only going over by 10kmh, not really a bad effort is it?
    and the good thing is that he has actually used it to highlight the effects of driver fatigue and distraction which really are massive influences on the way in which we drive.
  • runnaln [reply]
    7 months ago 0 points
    Mr Lay should grow some balls

    The public have turned against us, says Chief Constable Mike Hedges as he announces his retirement from the South Yorkshire force. Mr Hedges says that the public view speed cameras as tax raising machines. "I believe we have lost a tremendous amount of goodwill from the public. I think the biggest mistake we have made is getting money back. I am most uncomfortable with the focus on the taxation view which goes with it." He continued, "There is a place for cameras, but I think we have lost the argument on that. I think the police service has suffered some really serious confidence problems and support from the public as a result." Source: BBC News and Daily Mail.

    This does untold damage, to our society, add this to the common poilce coruption. Mr Lay does his fellow officers a great disservice. The argument on speed camers is long since lost.
  • Andre [reply]
    7 months ago 0 points
    ..Yes, all well and good.. that's the one time he got caught, but most likely not the only time he's been speeding.. sorry but in a career spanning 35 years he may just have been let off a few times too... by showing his "Freddie" (badge)... Hypocrit, double standards and not impressive at all... based on ZERO TOLERANCE, as to what this "Lay" person preaches he should change his portfolio..
  • Dale [reply]
    7 months ago 0 points
    35 years without a single offence? All this tells me is that he is good at not being caught!

    Remember the further you go back the less speed cameras and such were around. Not getting a fine these days is a lot harder then getting a fine 35 years ago.

    Like I said a few blogs back about this guy... He is kidding himself if he thinks anyone looks up to him as a role model for road safety.
  • ST [reply]
    6 months ago 0 points
    Having the fine sent in the mail didn't really slow him down there and then when he was committing the offence. What good has the fine done except tell the offender after the fact that he did something "wrong". Between the incident and the time the mail came in, he could have "killed thousands of innocent lives".

    The 35 year bit it BS. It just shows that he's been lucky for 35 years not to be caught doing the wrong thing.

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