Regina Graham
CAPE Town City Traffic Services is cracking down on errant motorists with a collective 1 482 816 unpaid traffic fines totalling R592 851 710.
Traffic officials and police have adopted zero tolerance, especially to those who have not attempted to settle fines, and roadblocks are to be the order of the day, followed by visits to homes and offices.
From May 30 to June 3, officials will begin a blitz operation to apprehend motorists who have outstanding warrants of arrest for non-attendance in court.
Officers are setting up roadblocks during the morning (6am to 11am) and afternoon (3pm to 6pm) on the major routes within the city to catch motorists who have unpaid fines.
Officers will also be visiting homes and businesses.
“We expect to catch many of the people who have been trying to avoid paying their fines,” Kevin Jacobs of Cape Town’s Traffic Services said.
“We hope that the raised awareness will induce law-abiding citizens to do the right thing and voluntarily settle their fines.”
There are more than a million outstanding fines that do not necessarily belong to over a million citizens, he said. “People with long outstanding fines generally have several fines to their names,” Jacobs said.
“These are the culprits we are after, as they are the ones that will do anything to circumvent the process.”
The Cape Chamber of Commerce issued a statement saying that, while it supported the city’s efforts, it had reservations about the roadblocks.
“Have roadblocks by all means, but don’t block the city’s major traffic arteries.
People have to go about their business and deliveries have to be made,” the president of the chamber, Michael Bagraim, said.
He has urged the traffic authorities not to cause hold-ups on the road, but to ensure that traffic continued to flow throughout the city.
regina.graham@inl.co.za