Technology puts brakes on motorist with R200k in unpaid traffic fines

There was nowhere to hide for a motorist who owes more than R200,000 in unpaid traffic fines when an in-vehicle camera triggered an alert behind his bakkie in Cape Town.

An officer attached to the city's transport enforcement unit received the alert via a tablet in his vehicle — triggered by an automated number plate recognition (ANPR) camera — while he was driving in Bellville on Sunday.

It recorded the 34-year-old driver had 262 fines, 114 warrants and owed the city R209,200. The man was arrested and expected to appear in the Khayelitsha magistrate's court on Monday.

“We’ve highlighted multiple arrests in recent months where scofflaws have been tracked down by our specialist tracing team or via the ANPR technology,” said safety and security MMC JP Smith.

“This system is improving efficiency by allowing our officers to focus on the right vehicles, which means it is becoming more difficult to hide. I advise motorists to pay their fines timeously if they do not want to end up behind bars.

“We are finalising the details of the next roadshow where motorists can settle outstanding fines and warrants in a single location. These roadshows have become popular in recent years so do not spend all your money on black Friday and come buy peace of mind at our roadshow instead,” he added.

The roadshow will be held on the concourse level at the Civic Centre in the CBD on weekdays from December 2 to 11 between 8.30am and 2pm.

City law enforcement services arrested 360 suspects and recorded 71,843 traffic and bylaw offences over the past week.

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