It’s been a big week for South African road users.

On Monday, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) issued a “countrywide instruction that all outstanding traffic fines issued in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act should be cancelled after 18 months if no summons has been issued,” explains MoneyWeb:

If a summons has been issued and the alleged transgressor fails to appear in court resulting in a warrant of arrest, the warrant has a lifetime of two years from the date of issue. If it has not been executed within two years, it should also be cancelled.

Cheers to all who qualify.

Then, on Tuesday, the National Assembly passed the long-debated demerit system – proposed as “the most effective way to remove reckless and lawless drivers” from South Africa’s roads.

The demerit system will provide “an easy and objective mechanism of identifying habitual infringers, a new rehabilitation programme, and a specialised tribunal which will deal with these traffic cases,” explains Business Tech.

The future of the bill lies in Jacob Zuma’s hands, details Wheels24:

“The Aarto Act is implemented partially in the jurisdictions of Tshwane and Johannesburg. The amendments before Parliament would make the process easier to be implemented by all the law enforcement authorities in the country. The President with the advice of the Minister of Transport will set a date when the rest of the Act will be implemented nationally.”

The act is expected to take effect in the new financial year, and here’s how it is proposed to work:

• every driver will start with zero points to their name
• for every violation, you will get one demerit
• you will face a three-month licence suspension if you exceed 12 points
• your licence will be cancelled if suspended three times

Eina – but how will it effect motorists? Well, according to Wheels24:

“Motorists will receive their fines fairly quick through electronic means such as e-mail. The attitude of alleged infringers to ignore their penalties would result in their driving licenses, Professional Driving Permits or vehicle licences being blocked on the system.

“Infringers would no longer escape liability by simply electing to go to court with the intention of flooding the court system and with the knowledge that such cases may not make it to the court roll as these courts have other criminal matters prioritised.”

No more messing around, then.

Motorists are, of course, encouraged to exercise caution and abide by the rules of the road:

In instances where a fine has been received by a motorist, it should not be ignored but the motorist must act by exercising one of the elective options available, e.g Pay the fine within 32 days from receipt of such a fine and automatically qualify for a 50% discount on the penalty or submit a representation to the RTIA if such a motorist believes that s/he does not deserve the fine.

Got it? Great.

Perhaps you should start exercising that caution on your way home from work today, as we all know how you get when it starts to rain in the Mother City.

[source:wheels24&arrivealive]