Cape Town: Huge new operation set to bust drivers with unpaid traffic fines

The City of Cape Town has upped the ante in their fight against those who flaunt the rules and fail to pay their traffic fines. On Tuesday, it was announced that all general traffic enforcement officers would be given the power to issue arrest warrants to motorists who are ignoring their financial penalties.

Not paying your fines? That'll end up costing you The move dubbed Operation Reclaim by city officials is designed to show Capetonians that local authorities are deadly serious about making the roads a safer place to drive. That's what Mayco Member for Safety and Security JP Smith said, as he offered these repeated offenders one last chance to settle their debts without legal intervention:

This exercise is about reducing deaths on our roads. There are far too many motorists who have outstanding traffic fines that have progressed to the warrant stage. Inaction on our part will simply perpetuate the perception that there are no consequences for bad behaviour and harm our efforts to make our roads safer.

To simply avoid payment as some form of protest is not the answer. So, I appeal to motorists to register on an online platform like PayCity to track whether they have any fines, or visit their nearest walk-in centre and to pay outstanding fines.

JP Smith Cape Town traffic laws: How cops will clamp down on non-payment Operation Reclaim doesn't plan to let anyone off the hook, either. Officers will be given a number of tools to help them bust these rogue drivers: Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) will now be used to pick up these scofflaws , and there will be a greater physical presence of traffic cops too.

Through both roaming patrols and increased roadblocks, the clampdown is set to bring some of the most notorious fine-dodgers to book: Smith revealed that the department was able to catch a driver who had 17 outstanding fines and owed a total of R35 000 in unpaid fees.

Operation Reclaim: Legal warrants for drivers There are even plans for officers to conduct door-to-door searches. So if you think you can ride out the storm and hide at home, you may have another thing coming. Cape Town city officials also released their latest figures for the number of warrants they've handed out over a comparative six-month period:

Period Warrant

Arrests Released on

Warning Total Warrants

Executed

Jul Dec 2018 30 855 53 632 84 487

Jul Dec 2017 34 271 28 215 62 486

Motorists can check the status of fines or warrants by registering on www.paycity.co.za and pay these online if they choose. Alternatively, the City offers a number of other payment options, outlined here.

Tags: Cape Towncarsroad safetySouth AfricaTraffic

LINK:	https://www.thesouthafrican.com/cape-town-drivers-unpaid-traffic-fines...
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