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Police speak out about fine for slow Mitchell Freeway driver

A WA Police officer has spoken out about the Perth motorist who was fined for driving almost 30km/h below the limit on Mitchell Freeway on Monday night — saying slow drivers caused congestion and crashes.

The news that WA Police had penalised the driver of a Toyota LandCruiser for travelling at least 21km/h below the 100km/h limit on Monday night was met with calls of “about time” by other motorists on social media.

The $50 fine does not carry a demerit-point penalty and applies only to drivers caught at low speeds on freeways.

A WA Police spokesperson said today that travelling that slowly on the freeway — even at that time of night — caused congestion.

“Depth perception at night decreases and other vehicles swerve to avoid running into the back of the slower vehicle, without checking the lane next to them is clear, and a crash occurs,” the spokesperson said.

“People get stuck behind the slow vehicle and can’t change lanes due to vehicles doing the speed limit in the other lanes, those drivers decide to change lanes anyway due to frustration and it causes a crash.”

A 71-year-old driver sparked debate this month when he was filmed travelling slower than 50km/h in a 100km/h speed zone on the notorious Indian Ocean Drive.

Road Safety Council chairman Iain Cameron backed the decision to fine the freeway driver but said it was no excuse for risky behaviour by other motorists.

“I understand that people will get frustrated at times,” he said.

“The argument then that it forces me to do something dangerous, that is not acceptable. We need to cope with whatever is happening on the roads.”

Mr Cameron said drivers travelling too slowly were not a high-risk road safety issue and that its enforcement by police often depended on the time, place and circumstances.

“Clearly there wasn’t any reasonable explanation in that circumstance,” he said.

While most on social media yesterday supported the decision to fine the slow freeway driver, others called for the penalty to be higher, saying they believed it was just as dangerous as drivers who were speeding.

Janette Whitely claimed it was a “recipe for disaster” if drivers were travelling much slower than other traffic.

David Evans recalled an instance when he was behind a driver who entered the Kwinana Freeway at South Street and kept doing 70km/h until Leach Highway despite the traffic flowing fast.

“By the time we were at Mount Henry Bridge it was chaos and crazy for the surrounding traffic,” he claimed.

In a tweet revealing the infringement, the WA Police traffic enforcement group said driving 28km/h under the speed limit on the freeway “causes frustration, which results in bad decisions, which results in accidents”.

“Can’t do the limit stay off the freeway,” police advised.

RAC corporate affairs general manager Will Golsby said motorists should drive in line with the posted speed limits, unless it was unsafe or there was a need to do so.

Originally published as Police: slow drivers can cause crashes