Sheriff gunning for fine dodgers
City of Cape Town enlists 14 sheriffs of the court to execute warrants of arrest for outstanding traffic fines.
|||Cape Town - Motorists who avoid paying their traffic fines will soon find it tougher to evade the law.
The City of Cape Town has enlisted 14 sheriffs of the court to execute warrants of arrest for outstanding traffic fines.
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said: “It has taken some time to get everybody on the same page, but now that we have this agreement in place, it puts us in a position to drive up the traffic fine payment rate, which is the only viable hope for improving road safety.”
Smith said employing more traffic officers to issue fines was meaningless if the criminal justice system allowed motorists to get away with not paying their fines.
The sheriffs will only be paid by the city once the driver has paid the original fine and the admission of guilt fine for being in contempt of court.
During the last quarter of 2015 the city’s Operation Reclaim project, that aims to track down warrant evaders, caught 17 648 motorists for outstanding warrants compared with 15 059 during the same period in 2014.
Other measures that the city has instituted to improve the payment of fines include preventing motorists from renewing their vehicle licence if they have outstanding warrants, an SMS reminder service to pay their fines and automatic number plate recognition technology in traffic vehicles to trace fine dodgers.
ACCOUNTABLE
In 2013/14, the city issued 2 341 374 fines, earning an income of more than R142 million. In the past financial year, 2 464 126 fines were issued, netting the city R227 million in revenue.
Cape Town has the lowest road death toll of all the metros and the highest fine repayment rate; Smith said this was no coincidence.
“Ensuring more people are held accountable ensures higher levels of compliance with road traffic legislation, which reduces the road death toll.”
He said chasing unpaid traffic fines was not being done in the pursuit of revenue. All the money goes directly into the city’s overall budget.
“No bonuses are paid as a result of extra traffic fine income and there are no financial incentives for our staff. Everything we do is in pursuit of reducing the number of fatalities on our roads,” said Smith.
Cape Argus