What you should know about Traffic Law (but few will tell you)

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What you should know about Traffic Law (but few will tell you)

November 17th, 2009

Kyle

A perspective provided by Justice Project South Africa

JMPD

Welcome to this, the first edition of what will be a regular Drive Magazine feature on traffic law.

There is no doubt that most South African motorists know little or nothing about traffic law or the consequences of not obeying it and as easily as it can be said that there is no reason to be an expert on traffic law, it is vital that every motorist knows what can happen if they fail to act within the law.

Whilst the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is tasked with (and paid to) educate the public on AARTO, it has done little to achieve this thus far but this will not change the fact that you, the motorist is expected to know what AARTO is all about.

Ahead of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) Act nationwide rollout in 2010, the TMPD (Tshwane) and JMPD (Johannesburg) have been engaged in the pilot implementation of the Act. This means that committing an offence in these areas is currently dealt with entirely differently to the rest of the country at the moment but a year passes quickly and when nationwide implementation takes place, you will be in serious hot water before you know it if you don’t stick to the rules.

Everyone should have heard about the points-demerit system by now and this is one of the most significant parts of the AARTO Act. We will dedicate an article to this to make it clear what implications this will have but you may not be aware of how other parts of the Act changes everything with regards traffic fines – and you should.

Ignoring notices (fines) is commonplace and doing so under AARTO is a huge mistake. The Act provides for different stages and monetary charges in each phase of the notice’s lifetime and simply ignoring one could culminate in the sheriff seizing your property and you being listed with credit agencies! This will happen within 120 days of the offence if you ignore a notice and a fine that starts off with a liability of R250 will end up costing you as much as R700 plus the fees charged by the sheriff – goodbye TV.

A number of different options apply to the alleged offender, ranging from simply paying the fine and getting a “50% discount” (and incurring the points straight off) to electing to be tried in court. Each option will be dealt with in separate articles in this series so be sure to know your options.

What most people don’t understand is that the National Road Traffic Act (NRTA) is the underlying Act of AARTO and that there is a presumption of the Act that has you pretty much nailed from the instant a fine is issued. The presumption in the NRTA that “the owner of the vehicle shall be deemed as being the driver” immediately assumes your guilt and it is up to you to prove that you were not the driver. This has been around since 1996 and has never been amended, despite the constitution saying that a person should be assumed innocent until proven guilty.

This has been raised again and again, but like so many other constitutional violations, it remains in force and will remain for the foreseeable future, so don’t you think that you will be able to use this as a defence.

By far the most common form of prosecution is for speed offences and it is extraordinary that well over 90% of these prosecutions are by means of speed cameras. In July 2009, it was revealed that 98.94% of all prosecutions instituted by the JMPD were for speeding.

It is also interesting to note that more than 95% of the photos taken for these speeding offences are taken from the rear, assuming your guilt and paralysing any defence you may have that you were not the driver.

Think about this and then read the next instalment which will deal with speeding.

About the writer and JPSA.

Howard Dembovsky is the current National Chairman of Justice Project South Africa and is an ex-policeman. He has appeared on almost every national radio station, newspaper and TV station in South Africa talking extensively on traffic enforcement issues.

Justice Project South Africa (www.jp-sa.org) was formed to offer assistance and advice to victims of power abuse and to tackle corruption. Despite receiving countless compliments from some of the most “surprising” sources, it remains an unfunded organisation. Its council members include: