Row over 3 000 'dodgy' speeding tickets
July 07, 2006 Edition 1
Norman Joseph
Senior city traffic officers are investigating 3 000 cases of dodgy speeding fines sent to motorists in one month, after an official at Labat Traffic Solutions allegedly checked the wrong information into a computer system.
An angry panelbeater and a medical doctor, both from Kommetjie, apparently fell victim to the mistake that has affected scores of motorists in the Fish Hoek and Simon's Town areas in recent weeks.
A senior traffic officer, who asked not to be named, told the Cape Argus yesterday that a traffic officer was doing duty with a speed camera along "the Glencairn Express" last month and things "went wrong" when he got back to the office.
The officer went to the office of Labat Traffic Solutions in the Paul Sauer Building on the Foreshore, where he handed the camera and films to a Labat official who apparently punched in the "wrong code and information" into a computer system.
The senior traffic officer said: "We don't know exactly what happened in the back office of Labat.
"All we know is that a wrong code and other information were put into the computer, causing Labat to send out wrong traffic fines to motorists.
"Somehow, information was mixed and most of the traffic fines showed that a speed limit was broken on the corner of Jan Smuts Drive and Klipfontein Road in Athlone. I know that innocent people were affected."
Two years ago, Labat was hired on a R60 million contract to issue and serve all traffic fines to motorists for the city. Repeated efforts by the Cape Argus to get comment from Labat on the recent bungle, failed.
Panelbeater Hennie Coetzer said he had received three speeding fines on Wednesday, allegedly committed on the corner of Jan Smuts Drive and Klipfontein Road in Athlone.
He said: "I don't even know where that intersection is in Athlone. I never go to that part of the world. This is ridiculous."
One of the fines stated that a camera had caught his vehicle, a Mercedes Benz, at 3.51pm on June 9. The fine was R300. Also on June 9, at 3.53pm, his other vehicle, a Toyota sedan, was caught on camera and the fine showed R200.
This meant that Coetzer's two vehicles were apparently caught speeding about two minutes apart in the same area.
Coetzer responded: "That's absurd. I'm doing business here in the Kommetjie area, and definitely not in Athlone, which is very far from me."
The third fine was for R300, filmed at 2.23pm on June 13.
All the speeding fines were recorded on the corner of Jan Smuts Drive and Klipfontein Road in Athlone.
However, the traffic officer was working with a speed camera along the "Glencairn Express" section near Simon's Town.
All the speeding fines indicated that motorist must pay the fine or appear at the Simon's Town Magistrate's Court, instead of the Athlone Magistrate's Court which is the court in the jurisdiction that the speeding limit was allegedly exceeded.
When Coetzer called a city traffic officer, an official admitted that her staff had had problems with traffic speeding fines issued on July 1, and that no photographs were available for him to view.
Brian Preen, a medical doctor living in Kommetjie, said he had received four speeding fines in the post on Wednesday.
One speeding fine was for R200, allegedly committed at 1.20pm on June 9 on the corner of Jan Smuts Drive and Klipfontein Road, Athlone.
A second fine for R200 on the same day and at the same intersection showed the time at 1.50pm.
On June 13, a fine of R200 was for speeding at 2.10pm, and another R300 fine at 2.40pm on the same day and in the same spot.
Preen said: "This is bizarre. My daughter has a Citi Golf and not a plain VW Golf as on the speeding fine.
"She is a teacher at a Constantia school, and travels from there along Spaanschemat Road to Kommetjie.
"She's never been in Athlone, and she does not know where the place is."
However, he said there was a possibility she had received the fines in the Glencairn area and not Athlone.
The senior traffic officer confirmed that Coetzer and Preen had received speeding fines and suggested they report to the Hillstar Traffic Depot in Ottery to try to sort things out.
normanj@incape.co.za
