South African Speed Enforcement Practice - Ca-Ching!

The word enforcement is entirely inappropriate in the case of how most speed enforcement is practiced in South Africa.

Actually, what is happening at the moment (and has been for some time now) is that motorists are photographed and sent fines in the post - weeks (or longer) after the fact. This can only be described as the various municipalities issuing a toll for you breaking the speed limit. In other words, “if you are prepared to pay for the privilege, go ahead and speed, we will send you a bill in the post.”

This is not to say that all speeding fines are issued in this way. There are certain municipalities and Provincial Traffic Authorities who do things the old (and right) way by actually stopping motorists who are breaking the speed limit and all Kudos go to them.

However, the vast majority of “speeding fines” are issued by using cameras and devious methods to trap and fleece motorists of their cash are employed.  As one Metro Police Officer I spoke to put it, “The Metro says that if we are taking photographs, we can’t take bribes but what they mean is they want all of the bribes to come to them (in the form of speeding fines).” Many a true word...

In many other countries, where camera enforcement is in place, the use of cameras is legislated as having to be highly visible. In Japan for example, warning signs appear at regular intervals warning the motorist of the presence of the camera but they go one step further. The signs state the exact distance to the camera and if it flashes you then, you are a complete dunce as the thing is also highly visible.

In South Africa, the exact opposite is true. Fixed cameras are painted dark green or grey to blend in as far as possible and portable camera operators hide in bushes, behind barriers etc. or worse, camouflage themselves and/or their cameras with military-grade camo nets etc.

The enterprise of issuing spgreed fines is very lucrative!

There is little or no interest in slowing speeding motorists down and preventing speed-related accidents. Evidence of this can be easily seen in many of the cases that have come to our attention.

In one of the recent cases, this person has fines totalling R6,000, clocked up over a period of one week - but wait - there's more! One of the infringements showing up under their profile at payfine.co.za is not included in that amount because the speed measured was in excess of 50% higher than the temporary speed limit and is therefore cause for immediate issue of summons (which hasn't been received yet - over a month later).

The question must be asked. If this person was driving at a speed in excess of 120KM/h in an 80KM/h zone (150% of the speed limit) then surely they should have been stopped and maybe even arrested. Why shouldn't we see the act of not stopping the “infringer” an act of gross negligence and reckless public endangerment by the Metro Police? Isn’t this dereliction of duty? Obviously not in the eyes of the JMPD.

So, let's not harp on what the Metro Police should be doing. It should be clear by now that the JMPD is more interested in turnover than public protection. Let's talk about the photographic evidence.