Following earlier media reports that all fines issued in Joburg since 22 December 2012 are illegal and can practically be discarded, the AA's legal team has warned that some action is still required on the part of guilty motorists.
The AA states that while fines that were received via ordinary mail are not legal (fines sent by registered mail are legal), even the illegal fines remain on the JMPD's system.
And while you can't be legally arrested for the fines that are illegal, you might still be prevented from renewing a car or drivers' licence as the Aarto system will still show that there are outstanding fines against your name.
What's more, you may also be leaving the door open for cops to harass you into paying fines at roadblocks.
According to the AA, the only way to remove any reasonable trace of these illegal fines is to fill in an Aarto 08 form found on the Aarto website . You may scan it and sent it back electronically.
Under “cause for discrepancy” you'll have to argue that the fine was issued illegally because it was sent to you via ordinary mail.
However, and technically speaking, drivers have just 64 days from the date of the offence to submit this form - which seems very unreasonable, given the circumstances.
What then, are the implications for motorists in possession of illegal fines dating back more than 64 days? The AA's legal team advises motorists to still follow the same procedure.
The AA also adds that it's your responsibility to find out whether you have any outstanding fines.
There are three useful websites for this - Payfine.co.za , Viewfines.net and Myfine.co.za - although not all municipalities feed their data to these sites.