Motorist fights ferry queue fine

A SOUTHERN Tasmanian stuck in Bruny Island ferry traffic on Good Friday will go to court this week to fight his “absurd” infringement for crossing double white lines.

Construction businessman Ari Pafitis had been stopped on the Channel Highway for about 20 minutes on April 19 when he tried to bypass the queue by driving on the wrong side of the road to get home to Woodbridge, which is south of the ferry terminal.

But he was stung by police sitting near the Ferry Rd turnoff in Kettering for driving on the right hand side of the road and crossing double white lines.

Mr Pafitis said he was fined almost $600 for the offence and faces gaining five demerit points, which is half of what he had left on his licence.

And after he waited for a handful of drivers in front of him to be booked for the same offence, Mr Pafitis said police wouldn’t let him drive 20m past the traffic to get home but forced him to turn around and go the long way via Cygnet.

“My view is the police made a conscious decision to spend their time booking people rather than going to address the issue at the head of the queue — that Channel Highway was at a standstill,” Mr Pafitis said.

“It's absurd. If this infringement stands I'll lose half the demerit points on my licence for one event I don’t think should stand.”

A spokeswoman said police didn’t comment on individual cases and the traffic management of the ferry queue on Channel Highway was the responsibility of the Department of State Growth.

“Road rules are enforced for the safety of all road users,” she said.

“Four motorists were issued with traffic infringement notices in the Ferry Rd area on April 19. Two were cautions, two infringement notices proceeded [as they were] ineligible for caution.”

Mr Pafitis said he was ineligible for a warning due to a prior speeding infringement in the past three years.

A State Growth spokesman said ferry operator SeaLink managed traffic along Ferry Rd and contacted the department to facilitate the safe flow of vehicles when the queue approached Channel Highway.

Labor infrastructure spokesman David O’Byrne said traffic management during peak ferry demand needed to be “significantly improved”.