About 44 000 Cape Town motorists are driving “scot-free” because the courts have only been able to deal with about 500 cases this year.
Mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith said: “It’s an absolute crisis. These are large fines and motorists are told to appear in court but they can’t because of the backlog.”
He said thousands of arrest warrants, worth about R300 million, were “going stale” because they were not being signed off by magistrates.
There were currently about 430 000 warrants of arrest outstanding, of which only 207 000 had been signed and received.
The city is so concerned about the court backlog that it is in talks with the department of justice and the provincial government about appointing additional magistrates to hear the cases and work through the backlog - and has offered to pay for them from the city’s coffers.
‘HUGE IMPACT’
Smith blamed new national regulations that called for all drivers who exceeded the speed limit by 30km or more to appear in court, for adding to the crisis.
“Unfortunately this has had a huge impact on our courts as a large percentage of cases need to go to court.”
Smith said the city had already employed extra prosecutors and administrative staff from its legal services directorate to deal with this.
But negotiations with the Department of Justice were “slow”, he said.
A report on traffic fines submitted on Thursday to the safety and security portfolio committee said the city could only take strong action against an offender when a warrant of arrest had been issued.
“Now we are waiting for the magistrates.”
Traffic chief Heathcliff Thomas said: “Unfortunately the motoring public don’t treat fines with importance but with complete contempt because there are no consequences.”
Marius van Tonder of safety and security said: “A warrant of arrest is the last step in a long process where the offender chooses to ignore the fine notices and reminders sent, as well as a summons to appear in court which is personally served.”
It is also one of several reasons why the city’s income from traffic fines has dropped by a third, from R143 040 297 in the 2011/2012 financial year to R99 381 526 for 2012/2013.
Van Tonder said there was a “worsening culture” of non-payment.
Other reasons for the sharp decline included the use of visible traffic officers rather than camera fines and technical problems with a new system which delayed the sending out of fine notices and printing of summonses.
He said the substantial reduction and withdrawal of fines by court officials had cost the city nearly R10 million in lost revenue. Of the 118 000 presentations to the court about fines, 25 000 were withdrawn.
Van Tonder said the department was also hamstrung by the “poor accuracy” of address data on the eNatis system, which made it difficult to post fines and contact offenders.
‘CLOSING LOOPHOLES’
Smith is working with transport MEC Robin Carlisle on new legislation that would “close the loopholes” that help motorists dodge their fines.
He has said motorists would soon have to provide Fica-style proof of address when registering their vehicles, to deter them from giving false details.
Officials would soon be able to impound the vehicles of motorists with outstanding fines, and there would be greater visibility with the introduction of traffic reservists.
Meanwhile the city is starting to see the results of its “admin mark”, introduced in March 2013 to penalise errant offenders.
With the admin mark, a motorist with an outstanding warrant of arrest will have a block placed in his account, meaning he won’t be able to renew his car licence, or do any transaction that involves the eNatis system anywhere in the country.
“As a direct result, the income at that office has quadrupled.”
Thomas said income from postal payments of traffic fines at Gallows Hill had increased from R300 000 a month to R1.8 million since the introduction of the admin mark.
Smith said: “There’s no lack of access to places of payment. If you are not paying it is because you can’t be bothered.”
Operation Reclaim, which targets motorists with outstanding warrants of arrest, has led to the arrest of more than 16 000 people between June and October this year.
Smith said the city had recorded nearly a half a million traffic offences in the months between July and September, and made more than 18 500 arrests. Most of these offences – more than 257 000 – were for speeding.
Others areas of concern include the high number of unlicensed drivers and vehicles on the road, and the number of people caught driving without wearing seatbelts. - Cape Argus