JMPD’s favourite speed-trapping site
Howard Dembovsky from Justice Project South Africa (NPC responds to traffic fine dispute)
I have read with interest, the article entitled “Motorist disputes AARTO traffic fine” online and wish to give Mr Brown and other motorists a few words of advice, if I may.
The speed-trapping site at the Sasol Garage on Christiaan de Wet Road near Wilhelmina Avenue has indeed been one of the JMPD’s favourite speed-trapping sites for well over a decade. Since the JMPD got its hands on the fully automated, multi-lane, radar-based speed measuring equipment (SME) it uses there, and its then contractor forced its legalisation – while the Metro Police “officers” sit under the umbrellas outside the convenience shop about 30 metres away from it, munching on junk food and drinking fizzy drinks while guarding it from vandalism or theft – it has been religiously deployed there almost daily. There are many other sites just like it.
It is my view that if the purpose of speed cameras is to curb disobedience to speed limits and in so doing enhance road safety, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) would never have repeatedly approved that site and others like it for covert speed policing operations. A thinking DPP and caring Metro Police Department would have insisted that a permanent, highly visible speed camera be erected there – if that stretch of road presents any danger to road users and the objective of speed cameras is to curb “speeding”. They could also have installed practically zero-maintenance road engineering measures (like a roundabout) at the intersection of Wilhelmina Avenue to do so and to assist motorists trying to enter Christiaan de Wet Road from Wilhelmina Avenue to safely filter into that busy road. They have not and will not because that will cost money, instead of generating it.
That said, the way Mr Brown appears to be going about things is, in my view, flawed. Firstly, while I agree that the speed readings that are alleged by this type of SME, which has become widely used throughout South Africa since around 2012, can often be extremely questionable, the provisions of the Technical Committee for Standards and Procedures (TCSP) guidelines he references are inapplicable to so-called “Class C” radar SME.
Secondly, Mr Brown should avoid contacting the JMPD as suggested by Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar. The JMPD is not a Court, it is an issuing authority. Its sole interest lies in generating revenue for the City of Johannesburg, and unequivocally says in affidavits before the High Court that without the revenue from traffic fines, it would not be able to supply basic services without increasing rates and taxes. Accordingly, it appears that to them, a law-abiding citizen is one who pays their traffic fines without question, not one who obeys road traffic laws.
Mr Brown should, without delay, elect to be tried in Court – while the current provisions of the AARTO Act apply. Once the AARTO Amendment Act comes into force, no similarly accused motorist will be able to do so because the amendments completely remove the trial Courts from the process, while maintaining the underlying principle of the AARTO Act – that every person who stands accused of a road traffic infringement is guilty until they prove themselves innocent.
