Community Safety department recieves request from PP’s office
The request follows the list of speed fines that were issued between 1 February 2012 and 31 March 2012.
The Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison has received a request for information from office of the Public Protector regarding the list of speed fines that were issued between 1 February 2012 and 31 March 2012 and the department has responded to that request.
It said in a statement: “It is therefore premature for the DA to issue a media statement while the matter is being considered by the Office of the Public Protector.
“To put the matter into perspective, the department was required to request authorization from the NPA only for the use of static or semi-static speed cameras. During the period in question, the department did not use these kind of cameras hence it was not necessary to request authorization.
“For mobile/ prolazer speed law enforcement equipment, there is no need to obtain authorization in order for traffic officers to enforce the law. That is the normal day to day operation of traffic officers.
“In light of the above, the DA misled the Office of Public Protector and the general public because it assumed that before the use of all speed cameras, authorization should be sought from the NPA. This is only applicable to certain types of cameras.
“In the spirit of enhancing road safety on our roads, the department requests that the DA withdraws its statement and wait for the finalization of the matter because this has the potential of encouraging bad driving behaviour on motorists, and increase the rate of crashes as a result of speeding.
“Road safety is a matter of life and death; hence the department requests political parties to refrain from making statements that might have devastating consequences.
“People who received fines for traffic law violations are encouraged to pay them or settle them in court,” it ended.
