Johannes* is employed as a driver. On one of his trips, he was stopped by the metro police and fined because the bakkie was overloaded. Johannes’ boss always tells him what needs to be loaded onto the bakkie for transport, so Johannes felt that it wasn’t his fault or his responsibility. He took the fine to his boss, and his boss said he would take care of it. But his boss never ‘took care of it’, and now, months later, Johannes has received a warrant of arrest from the metro police because he never paid the fine. AZIKHIPHI! That’s not on! Scorpion Legal Protection discusses what the law says about this.
Scorpion Legal Protection’s advice
Vehicle fines are usually sent to the registered owner of the vehicle, which in this case would be Johannes’ employer. There are two types of fines that can be issued by the traffic department:
- An S56 notice, which is normally given to you in person by a traffic officer. This will contain details of the offence as well as a specific court date.
- An S341 notice, which is sent in the mail after the offence has been committed. These are normally fines for speeding from a fixed camera or for an expired license disk. These notices do not have a court date and are a sort of a last warning before summons is issued against you.
Regardless of the fine you receive, you have 30 days to approach the traffic department where the fine was issued to pay the fine. After 30 days, they could issue a summons, which means you will have to go to court to state your case. This varies from municipality to municipality though.
If you want to challenge the fine before they issue the summons, you can send a letter or fax to the issuing traffic department that includes the fine and the reasons why you feel you shouldn’t pay the fine. Johannes, for example, could have sent a letter stating that the vehicle belonged to his employer and that he was instructed to load it the way he did, which resulted in the fine.
The public prosecutor can then decide if they still want to prosecute the matter, and can withdraw the warrant of arrest and issue the same against the employer. If the prosecutor still wants to prosecute, the matter will be set in front of a magistrate, who will determine the amount that needs to be paid.
Tips:
- Don’t ignore fines, or you may find yourself in bigger trouble.
- There are different processes for appealing fines based on where you received the fine.
- If you intend to address the fine (pay/negotiate the fine), you should do so within 30 days. Remember, as the driver, the Road Traffic Act and The Road Traffic Regulations say it’s your responsibility to adhere to the rules of the road.
If you have a query, follow us on our Facebook page and ask your question during our next Live Q&A (every first Thursday of the month).
* This is only basic advice and cannot be relied on solely. Names have been changed to protect identity.