yeah its for real mate. usually what triggers it off is the kids riding the quads and stuff without the helmets gets the cops there in the first place and then they will just sit at the end of the street, as soon as your bike hits that road bam they are looking for ya to give you a fine. drive outta there and they will stop you to fine you if its been a busy day for them, its almost like they cant be bothered looking for the single lad that broke the law with regards to riding on the road, riding without a helmet, so they just fine everyone. i have had 2 fines which me and the lads split between us so it wasnt too bad, (about $60 each) as the fine was a whopping $360 just for half a day cruise.
good example is when they were adding the new power lines right through the guts of PP, the cops were there for 2 weeks running. both weeks we just turned around and went home.
Cheers, Tony.