Procedural decriminalization of certain traffic offences
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Date
1996
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Abstract
Traffic laws, rules and regulations are designed for the prevention of traffic collisions and congestion. The achievement of traffic safety rests on a foundation of sound traffic regulations made effective by proper enforcement Road safety in South Africa is a matter of serious concern considering the number of deaths on the road annually. A high road carnage in South Africa cannot be attributed solely to the ever increasing population of road users and vehicles, but mainly to the lack of efficient traffic law enforcement. Road behaviour of motorists is determined inter alia by the chance of apprehension for traffic offences and the chance to have traffic prosecution finalised.
Traffic offences in South Africa form part of the criminal law equally with serious common law and other statutory crimes. All offences are in practice adjudicated upon by the criminal law courts according to the law of criminal procedure.
With traffic prosecutions numbering in millions, the need for judicial processing of these offences expeditiously has exceeded the capacity of the present court system. For some time the enforcement of our traffic law has been lacking in efficiency. The crisis in which our traffic law enforcement finds itself is characterized by a high number of traffic prosecutions which are not finalised as a result of offenders who dp not pay fines, who do not appear in court and those who cannot be traced for summonses to be served on them. Traffic prosecutions swamp the magistrates' courts and the Department of Justice personnel have, as a result, not been able to cope with the workload.
In search for a solution to these problems, the effect of existing legislation, statutory provisions, administrative instructions and guidelines regarding the current traffic law enforcement system in South Africa were studied and analysed. The previous relevant research studies on the subject were consulted. A research on the experiences of other countries in the administration of traffic laws was carried out Comments on the subject were obtained from various persons and institutions charged with the administration of traffic law in South Africa. The recent proposals by the Department of Justice to remove certain traffic offences from the criminal justice system were studied and analysed.
In view of problems encountered, I directed my research towards seeking a mechanism whereby: the errant motorists would be successfully traced and be brought to book without delay, our courts would be relieved of the existing burden of traffic cases overcrowding our court calenders, sanctions equated with the conduct of a road user would be imposed, a fast, economic and efficient way of dealing with traffic offenders could be found, and the criminal stigma attached to traffic violations could be removed. There is a need for procedural decriminalization of certain traffic offences.
As an attempt to solve problems encountered in traffic law enforcement, recommendations are made for the re-classification as non-criminal of certain traffic offences and the introduction of a simplified adjudication procedure. These measures are conceived to protect the constitutional rights of the driving public, improve the driver behaviour and enhance society's interest in road safety.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law in fulfilment of the
requirements for the degree of MAGISTER LEGUM in the Department of Criminal and Procedural Law at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 1996.
Keywords
Traffic violations, Traffic offences -- South Africa, Traffic laws, rules and regulations