Putting traffic fine issue in perspective

I WRITE this letter in response to the article published in the Zululand Observer of 7 April, ‘Pay up or get locked up’.

Erasmus mentions that a traffic official employed by TMT asked for her licence. As far as I know NO traffic official can be employed by a private company.

The traffic official is employed by the uMhlathuze Municipality and the same applies to most towns in Zululand.

On the statement printed and picture attached to this same article there are a number of points I would like to mention, which in my opinion is different in response to what Erasmus mentioned:

• The ID number search returned 22 records.

• IA (Issuing Authority) – uMhlathuze.

• Date of Infringement.

• Vehicle registration number – NUF38493.

Erasmus mentioned that these fines had no reference numbers and no photo of her vehicle. However, on the very same statement displayed, the infringement number shown is in actual fact the reference number which appears in RED at the right top of the notice number.

The search at the roadblock, when the clerk who prints these same statements, can if requested print on each infringement the complete notice which will have the picture she refers to on it as well as location and so on – the very same one posted to the offender.

The public are not educated enough and it will be in the public interest to contact relevant authorities to get their input and comments and publish a correct article with regards to this article.

The reason why Erasmus was told that she did not have outstanding traffic fines when renewing her driver’s licence, was that only infringements currently loaded onto the E-natis system are those issued in Tswana and captured by the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA), who deals with these, and will then reflect as this is the National Traffic Information System which is the same system used by the examiner when conducting the eye test and cashiers when renewing one’s driver’s licence.

The same system will inform the cashier and you of any outstanding vehicle licence/s on your ID and so on.

In terms of the National Road Traffic Act (NRTA), the notices are posted to the address that appears on the E-natis system and provided by licence holders, and should this address change, then it is the duty of that person to update their particulars – failing which is an offence in terms of the NRTA.

There is once again confusion with regards to this.

In terms of the NRTA the postage is not required to be registered, but in terms of the Administration Adjudication Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO) the correspondence must be registered mail.

In KZN, all traffic notices are issued in terms of the NRTA and not AARTO, as AARTO has not been implemented in KZN.

The public should be provided with a telephone number that they can contact at the uMhlathuze Traffic Department to check on their ID number or vehicle licence number for any outstanding infringements, as in the case of a company with a fleet of vehicles with different drivers, this is difficult to control.

This will then be determined and this list of infringements and notices per infringer can be emailed or collected at the Traffic Department to be resolved without being stopped in a road block.

This will save the motorist’s time, as once solved this is captured by the clerk and the vehicle licence is removed off the Number Plate Recognition (NPR) system, which informs the Traffic Officer at this road block if you are a wanted infringer.

The fines issued are not by TMT but by the traffic officer who captured the infringer while on duty and employed by uMhlathuze Traffic Department and adjudicated by a traffic officer who confirms that this vehicle in the picture is the correct vehicle for the licence number which appears, before capturing it on the Gizmo system and posting it.

There could be a possibility that this vehicle is the exact same as your vehicle in the picture, but you were never there in that location on that date or time.

You will then be required to submit an affidavit to cancel this notice, as criminals do clone a stolen vehicle with the exact same licence number as yours to avoid being caught.

IN THE KNOW