City collects more traffic fine payments

City collects more traffic fine payments

City collects more traffic fine payments

Published Jul 28, 2014

Share

Rebecca Jackman

THE City of Cape Town has seen a marked increase in income from traffic fines, with R142.3 million paid in the financial year to June compared to R99.3m the previous year.

“This increase is not due to the issuing of more fines, but (is) a direct result of the various interventions that we have implemented in the last year,” said mayoral committee member for safety and security JP Smith. The R43m increase is a result of city interventions implemented to ensure safer roads, according to a statement released yesterday.

Yet the recovery rate of fines was still under 40 percent. Smith said although the traffic fine recovery rate was “the best in the country”, the city still had a long way to go to reach the 60 percent recovery rate it had set itself.

“Only through ensuring that traffic offenders are compelled to face the consequences of their actions can we change their road behaviour and make our roads safer.”

To improve the recovery rate, the Traffic Fine Management Department started an SMS reminder service, from which it received more than 10 000 replies on the first day. First notices are sent by mail, with a confirmation SMS. Second notices have been replaced entirely by SMS and, failing to settle, a final SMS warns of a resulting summons.

The SMS initiative targets the issue of the large number of first notices returned to sender because people move and do not give the traffic department the new address.

Other measures to increase recovery rate include the mark system to catch people with outstanding warrants when they apply for renewal of their licence, and Operation Reclaim, using licence plate recognition to track defaulters with outstanding warrants.

Additional magistrates at the city’s municipal courts, dealing specifically with traffic-related matters, are being finalised.

“We are still considering ways of expediting the serving of summonses,” Smith said. “We are on the right track and will continue to do everything possible to hold people to account. The SMS system has proven that we do not have to resort to heavy-handed tactics – it is a simple yet effective measure and speaks to the more tech-savvy approach that we’re looking to implement.”

[email protected]

Related Topics: