{"id":808048,"date":"2025-01-22T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=808048"},"modified":"2025-01-22T12:22:47","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T10:22:47","slug":"big-changes-planned-for-driving-fines-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/808048\/big-changes-planned-for-driving-fines-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Big changes planned for driving fines in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Department of Transport (DoT) wants to increase traffic fines and potentially force payment at the time of licence renewal in a bid to stop people from breaking road rules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This comes after a big increase in road deaths during the 2024\/25 festive season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over that time, South Africa saw 1,502 people lose their lives in 1,234 crashes\u20145.3% more deaths and 4.2% more crashes than the previous festive season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Transport Minister Barbara Creecy said it was upsetting to see this backward step after years of progress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six provinces, including KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo, Northern Cape, and North West, reported an increase in road deaths. Creecy explained that human behaviour caused 87% of crashes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes things like hit-and-runs, jaywalking, driving while tired, speeding, drunk driving, and dangerous overtaking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She stressed that South Africans need to change how they act on the roads. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe number of people dying has gone up because of bad behaviour. We\u2019ve warned people, but too many drivers and pedestrians still act irresponsibly,\u201d Creecy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To tackle this, Creecy looked to Australia. “Instead of taking away licenses or giving people criminal records, Australia gives heavy fines to stop bad driving,” she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creecy thinks South Africa should do the same. She suggested stricter rules, like making people pay fines when renewing their car or driver\u2019s licences<\/strong> and increasing the fine amount. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we hit people\u2019s wallets hard enough, even the most stubborn drivers will think twice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, research from Australia shows<\/a> this might not work as planned. Studies found that higher fines don\u2019t always stop traffic violations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also hurt low-income people the most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, in New South Wales, a $361 fine for speeding just 12 km\/h over the limit is more than a third of a weekly salary for someone earning $50,000 a year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For someone making $200,000, it\u2019s less than 1%. This means richer people can easily pay the fines, but poorer people suffer a lot more.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>
Transport Minister Barbara Creecy<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Not so clear-cut <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Some studies also show that bigger fines only work for a short time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Finnish economist named Martti Kaila found that people who got larger fines were less likely to break the rules again\u2014but only for six months. After that, the effect wore off. This shows that fines alone might not fix the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other solutions might work better. Research shows that when drivers think they\u2019re being watched, they follow the rules more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, New South Wales put up warning signs for mobile speed cameras in April 2023. Since then, fines from those cameras dropped by 90%. This shows that making enforcement visible, like having more traffic police or signs, can make a big difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mix of strategies might work best. While fines can help in the short term, lasting change needs more than just penalties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching people about road safety, ensuring they see enforcement, and improving road infrastructure could all help. These steps would likely save more lives than raising fines alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DoT\u2019s plan to tighten fine collection shows it is serious about stopping reckless driving. However, a mix of fair enforcement, education, and visible policing could help create safer roads for everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Department of Transport (DoT) plans to impose higher fines for reckless and drunk driving, as well as other traffic violations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":808055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[8343,853,5274],"class_list":["post-808048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-department-for-transport","tag-south-africa","tag-traffic-fines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808048"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":808102,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808048\/revisions\/808102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}