Speedster pays R32 000 in fines

By: Anna Cox
October 23 2007 at 07:05AM

One of Johannesburg's worse traffic offenders, a man identified only as Mr S. Essa, has appeared in the Randburg magistrate's court and was forced to pay R32 000 in fines.

This was both for fines which had accumulated under his own name and for those he had received while using false number plates.

An additional charge has been added for defeating the ends of justice, and he will appear in court again in two weeks.

Essa was arrested through the new number plate identification technology used by Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) traffic officers.
'This man has absolutely no regard for the law'

He was caught doing 202km/h on the N3 at Fourteenth Avenue while using false number plates.

Essa has 41 traffic offences, including four speeding offences for exceeding the speed limit by over 60km/h - for which an admission-of-guilt fine cannot be paid.


Officers scanned the registration number, which was found to belong to a VW Golf.

They (officials) gave chase and Essa was caught and arrested.

He was getting as many as five different speeding fines in one day.
'Very few motorists will be able to escape it'

At the same roadblock, a red Porsche was caught doing 246km/h.

Traffic officers, however, couldn't catch him. However, through the number plate identification machine it was found that the driver too, had wrong number plates on the vehicle.

Two digits in the number had been switched around.

JMPD officers plan to arrest him this week, and he will also be charged with defeating the ends of justice.

The JMPD director responsible for case prosecutions and courts, Gerrie Gerneke, said the number plate identification machine was proving to be a big success in catching people using false number plates.

"We are pushing for a high fine for Essa, even a possible suspended jail sentence. It is a very serious offence. This man has absolutely no regard for the law.

"He thought he would get away with it because he was using false number plates. The Porsche driver, too, thought he could get away with speeding by swopping the two digits around," Gerneke said.

He noted that 10 000 vehicles using false number plates were on the computer system.

"When motorists complain about the fines they are getting for cars which do not match theirs, we immediately log it onto the system so that when cars go through our roadblocks we can identify them.

"On Sunday alone, three out of nine cars we stopped were using false plates, and the drivers were arrested," said Gerneke. "This technology is a first for South Africa, and very few motorists will be able to escape it."

The machine picks up vehicles with outstanding warrants, and stolen cars or those used in heists and hijackings.

At one roadblock this month, 19 vehicles which went through in six hours were found to be stolen. "We did not have the manpower to chase them, so they got away, but we will catch them at other roadblocks," Gerneke said.

This article was originally published on page 8 of The Star on October 23, 2007
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I read this and only thought "another" until i read carefully, a lot of detail coming out here. The last paragraph says it all: "19 vehicles which went through in six hours were found to be stolen. "We did not have the manpower to chase them, so they got away". So they have this wonderful technology, but it' not being effective for getting the stolen vehicles, those get away, but only you dear fool ctizen stand still for them to bloody your knuckles. Yes there is application, and i would have to agreed that guys like Mr Essa should be punished, but again, they parade him around like a pariah, and cite stolen vehicles escaping the roadblocks, while studiously working at harvesting your cash.
This is not about justice, this is not about road safety. What gets me is they try and make it to be. How the hell can he stand there and say that the 19 cars known to be stolen, just got away. So you got 19 people that are in stolen vehicles, KNOW they're in stolen vehicles, that are still out there, despite us as the collective citizenry having paid for measures to be put in to place to stop them?
This is africa, everything breaks down here.