‘Speed cops, why so many traps?’
Some frequently asked questions about traffic cops and fines, answered.
Are you, like many Krugersdorpers, surprised by a speeding fine in the post every now and then? Do you feel the fine has been unfairly issued? It might do you well if you knew a few simple laws that your local traffic officers enforce.
News readers asked, among other things, why fines have become more expensive, why there are so many speed traps in town and why you receive such a hefty fine for a minor offence?
The News spoke to William Nchefu, the head of Mogale City’s Traffic Department, and found that sometimes rules are necessarily implemented and at other times, officers do not do what they are supposed to.
Bianca van Heerden, a local resident, said she received a fine of R500 for driving seven kilometres per hour (kmph) over the speed limit.
“This is an illegal fine,” Nchefu said.
“Anywhere in South Africa, a 10 kmph grace limit applies.”
This means that if you accelerate to 70 kmph in a 60 kmph zone, you are not going to be fined. The fines start rolling in as soon as you push the pedal to 71kmph.
Nchefu added that an unmanned camera, like the green box camera, is a legal sight to behold. But in some cases, not really.
“A camera, mostly seen on a tripod, must at all times be monitored by a certified traffic officer, even if the officer is not standing right beside it,” he said.
So if you see the trapper, but the local traffic cop is lurking in a bush a few metres away, all is well and legal. And only well if you were not speeding 11 kmph faster than you should have.
And for speed trapping cameras that are spaced, according to resident Frank Peche, a little too close to one another, it seems they are legal as well.
“As long as it is approved by the Director of Public Prosecutions,” Nchefu explained.
But normally speed traps are not placed too close to each other.
As for the “expensive” fines, Nchefu confirmed that fines have, approved by the senior magistrate in the Mogale City jurisdiction, increased on 1 September. Making local resident Claire Meintjies’ two fines, issued three weeks apart for the same sort of offence, an example of this increase since her second fine was R1 000 more.
Related articles:
• Don’t throw your fine in the trash
• Traffic light not so bright?
