A heated confrontation between a P-plater and a senior constable on the side of a motorway has left the internet divided over who is in the wrong.
The P-plater from NSW uploaded footage of his terse argument with the plainclothes police officer to social media earlier this week.
In the video, the officer accuses the P-plater of speeding over the legal limit of 90km/hour and issues him an infringement notice.
‘I’m asking you again, what is your legal speed limit?’ the cop asks the driver, to which he responds: ’90km/hour’.
‘You believe you were travelling 90km?’ the officer asks.
‘I was,’ the driver replies before asking if he was recorded on a radar gun.
‘I don’t have you on radar,’ the officer admits.
Tensions rose after the P-plater accused the cop of speeding 140km/hour.
‘Unless you’ve got any proof of it or anything like that … I wasn’t breaking any speed limits. I’ve got my P-plates on, you’ve dragged me out of the car on the side of the road … you were up my a**. You were doing 140km/h,’ the driver says.
A heated confrontation between a P-plater and a senior constable (pictured) on the side of a motorway has left the internet divided over who is in the wrong
He then asks the officer to ‘lower his tone’ and ‘speak to him like a human being’.
The officer questions how the P-plater could have caught up with him while the police vehicle was travelling 110km/hour if he wasn’t speeding.
‘What I can’t understand … [is] if I’m travelling at 110km/h and you were travelling at your legal speed limit which is 90 as a P1 driver, how is that you have managed to stay with me?’ he asks.
‘Traffic man, traffic, it happens,’ the driver responds.
When the officer claims to have been travelling 110km/hour on cruise control, the driver tells the cop: Don’t bullsh** me’.
‘You weren’t on cruise control doing 110k’s an hour,’ the driver continues.
‘Just because you’re a cop doesn’t mean you can speed… There are three things that p*** me off and one of the biggest ones is stupidity.
‘Just because you’re a cop doesn’t mean you have the ability to abuse your power the way that you do.’
The pair continued to go back and forth until the officer finally handed the driver his keys and said he would be issued an infringement notice.
In the caption of the video, the driver claimed the officer had tried to unlock his car from the outside and removed his keys without telling him what he had done wrong.
‘I have tone and attitude towards the officer because of the patronising and belittling way he approached me and my passengers,’ he wrote.
‘I’m no Karen, I just cant stand dummies.’
![In the video, the officer accuses the P-plater of speeding over the legal limit of 90km/hour and issues him an infringement notice.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/11/15/03/77806153-12749843-In_the_video_the_officer_accuses_the_P_plater_of_speeding_over_t-a-4_1700017831008.jpg)
In the video, the officer accuses the P-plater of speeding over the legal limit of 90km/hour and issues him an infringement notice.
Aussies were divided over whether the P-plater or the police officer was in the right.
‘So if he had no radar, how is he going to prove in the court that he was speeding?’ one viewer commented.
‘Cops don’t need a radar. But they do need to be highway patrol who are trained to read speed without using equipment,’ a second wrote.
‘The fine won’t and never will stand in court without video evidence showing speed clocked,’ a third commented.
A fourth said: ‘Handled well mate. No swearing, confident and factual. Kudos to you.’
However, others claimed the P-plater was in the wrong.
‘You’re in the wrong mate and so are most of these comments from wannabe sovereign citizens,’ one wrote.
‘Why would you want to overtake or even drive in front of a cop just stay behind him,’ a second questioned.
According to National Criminal Lawyers, a police officer can estimate a driver’s speed using their expert knowledge without a radar gun.
If a fine is issued, it can be contested in court with the officer likely to be cross-examined by the defence on the level of their expertise.