Speed greed knows no bounds
Howard dembovsky
2010-08-10
FINES issued by Joburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) by post recently with regard to camera speeding offences have taken a seemingly bizarre turn and have caused a significant stir among business owners and drivers of company vehicles. Why?
Well, since the end of the “pilot phase” of AARTO on April 1, the JMPD has decided it is entitled to apply the provision in the AARTO Act that allows for fines issued to juristic persons (companies, trusts, etc) to be tripled in lieu of the demerit points that apply to the particular infringement. But, argues Justice Project South Africa’s (JPSA) legal counsel, the points demerit system is not in play yet and will not be until April 1, 2011. Besides, if it were legal and enforceable then surely the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) the only other traffic authority in the country, currently involved in the AARTO system, should also be applying this provision.
JPSA addressed this issue with the JMPD directly and was asked by them to help facilitate the correct filing of AARTO 07 driver nomination forms. Despite feeling the issue of the fines in this manner was illegal in the first place, JPSA were ready to agree to help facilitate the speedy completion and submission of these forms so that fines could be redirected to individual drivers in control, as is prescribed by the Act.
We viewed this as a good way to help educate the public on how the AARTO process should work and felt it would achieve this objective without too much pain for those concerned. But then some really big issues raised their heads and we realised we had very nearly helped the JMPD legitimise scores of illegal infringement notices.
Not only were these fines being prematurely tripled in the case of juristic persons, but all of a sudden, other provisions of the Act had been dispensed with summarily.
Among these, and by far the most serious deviation from the Act, was the method of delivery employed. Suddenly the absolute and crystal clear requirement in the Act that all infringement notices not issued to the infringer in person must be sent via registered mail, had also been dispensed with and the JMPD had started sending these notices via standard surface mail.
The reason given by the JMPD for this was that “people don’t collect registered mail”, so they were wasting R18 a pop to send out notices that never got collected by the infringers concerned. Even though the AARTO Act makes provision for this by deeming a registered article to have been delivered 10 days after posting, this did not satisfy the JMPD’s need to save money on fines that are mostly 10 times, and more, the value of the registered postage costs.
In doing so, the JMPD has violated the very Act it’s claiming to enforce and it stands to reason that a legally illegitimate document converts it to nothing more than a piece of paper with no legal standing. But don’t for one second expect that to be that...
There are a number of issues here in that the JMPD and the Road Transport Management Corporation (RTMC) both refuse to take ownership of the problem. The JMPD’s standpoint is that they can do what they like, while the RTMC do not have any jurisdiction over the way the JMPD administers the Act. Add to this the fact that many people have paid these illegal fines and when they get declared illegal, the same process of not refunding people their monies, in a timely fashion, is sure to ensue again - just like the tens of millions of rand yet to be refunded by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality for illegally issued fines issued in 2008.
In order to deal with all of these new illegally issued fines quickly and effectively, JPSA has established a website at www.aartofacts.co.za where people who have received them can register to have their fines withdrawn and if they have paid already, have them refunded if they meet the criteria set out there. JPSA is charging an administration fee of R150 for each infringement notice registered, so as to pay for the attorneys that will act on behalf of the aggrieved parties. The only exception to this charge is people who have received fines where the 50% discounted traffic fine comes to R125. In this case, they will receive a concession of R50, making the administration fee payable R100. No “discounts” can be entertained since every fine takes an equal amount of work to prepare for withdrawal.
The objective of this exercise is not to make money from your misery, but to fund a proper legal suit to gain relief from this situation.
For full details or to register your notice for withdrawal through JPSA, go to www.aartofacts.co.za, Howard Dembovsky is Chairman of JPSA.
