A recent report stated that the National Prosecution Authority in the Free State is withdrawing all criminal speeding cases which relied on evidence provided by the ProLaser 4 speed gun.

The gun has been found to be ineffective. This isn’t exactly ideal for South African law enforcement as a whole, because all cases relying on evidence for from the ProLaser are now compromised.

This is not the only problem with the speed camera system.

MyBroadband was contacted by a Port Elizabeth resident who realised that he was being fined money for an offence that he didn’t commit.

The MyBroadband reader received a speeding fine which stated that he was travelling at 79km/h in a 60km/h zone, on Hex River Road between Graaff Reinet Road and Kanfer Street in Uitenhage.

The PayMyFines website stated that the offence had occurred at 14:38 on 11 June 2019, and the total amount due for the fine was R260.

A photo of the speeding vehicle was also included with the fine, which immediately tipped off the driver that something was amiss.

While the photo was of the person’s vehicle, it was the exact same photo used in a previous fine.

The background of the image showed the vehicle travelling in a built-up area, while the location specified by the fine was only near a single building.

The driver then examined his activity around the date and time of the alleged offence and found that he was nowhere near the location specified in the speeding fine.

On the day that he allegedly incurred the fine, the driver was not in Uitenhage, but was in fact broken down in Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth.

What this shows is that while there are a lot of legitimate fines issued, it’s best to verify that that yours is correct.

If it’s found to be incorrect, you can send a letter to your local traffic department to contest the veracity of the offence.

There’s also always the other option of just not paying it and hoping for the best, but we would never be irresponsible enough to recommend such a thing.

[source:mybroadband]