CHECK THE DATES - KEEP YOUR MONEY

January 22, 2009
By Denis Droppa

Drivers caught speeding on camera at several roadworks sites on the Johannesburg ring road from September to November 2008 will be pleased to hear that the summonses are invalid because the camera traps were unauthorised.

However, they won't be pleased to hear that if they've already paid the fines they won't get a refund.

A reader contacted us to say he'd received a summons late in 2008 from a camera near the Marlboro off-ramp on the N3 freeway but when he went to the traffic department to pay the admission of guilt fine he was told the summons was invalid.

A helpful traffic officer told him to approach the court's public prosecutor, which he did and the summons was squashed without comment.

Johannesburg Metro police spokesperson Superintendent Wayne Minnaar confirmed that speed cameras on the freeways circling the city - specifically those at roadworks sites - were used over that period without the necessary permission from Gauteng's director of public prosecutions.

But he said the authority has since been obtained and the traps had been operating legally since the beginning of December 2008.

He says the summonses issued wrongly should have been cancelled automatically. Motorists who received summonses over the affected period should go to court, speak to a traffic prosecutor and check that the camera trap was an authorised one.

If it wasn't, the case will be withdrawn.

There were reputedly some 60 000 "illegal" speeding summonses issued on the Johannesburg ring road from September to November 2008, though Minnaar could not confirm the number.

Traffic authorities were similarly barred from using speed cameras on some of the busiest roads in the city in early 2008 because they missed application deadlines to operate the cameras.

However then, as now, motorists who'd already paid for summonses which they later suspected were invalid weren't refunded.

Minnaar said: "You can't get a refund because by paying an admission of guilt fine you've admitted that you were speeding."

The incident again underlines the importance of motorists checking the validity of summonses before paying the fines. A group calling itself the institute for the Scrutiny of Inequitable Traffic Enforcement has been set up to help drivers.

A spokesperson for the group said: "The speed camera system is inconsistently and arbitrarily set up by the Metro Police with the assistance of the judiciary.

"Our objective is to ensure that traffic laws are applied and enforced legally and fairly. Site membership is comprised of people from all walks of life, including ex-traffic policemen - even an ex-Provincial Traffic Chief.

"We have an exceptionally deep knowledge pool concerning traffic law. Our goal is to inform and educate drivers about their rights and to ensure that these rights are upheld when they're accused of traffic law infractions."

For more information call Dennis Jackson on (083) 497-6770.