Judge orders millions of traffic fines scrapped
The Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has ruled that millions of traffic fines issued under the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act since 2008 must be scrapped where authorities did not comply with the Act’s conditions. The Citizen reports the ruling comes after the High Court confirmed traffic authorities have to abide by the letter of the Aarto Act, and ordered that the fines before the court must be cancelled.
The same failures would apply to millions of traffic fines issued in Johannesburg and Pretoria since 2008.
The ruling comes after Fines4U approached the court on behalf of its client, Audi Johannesburg. Fines4U argued that the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) failed to comply with the Aarto Act with regard to the timelines for the serving of the notices.
Judge Bill Prinsloo rejected the argument by RTIA that the outcomes of representations did not affect any rights and the matter could only be taken on review when an enforcement letter had been issued. He accepted Fines4U’s argument that the RTIA’s ‘compliance with the prescribed periods of notification is obligatory and not a discretionary matter’.
Prinsloo found that the RTIA, ‘represented by the representation officers, acted beyond their statutorily conferred powers by not following the Aarto process and that they offended the constitutional principle of legality’. The RTIA has been ordered to pay Fines4U’s costs.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
