adminSome complain that the system encourages corruption by making it easier for police to seek bribes. Well, any other system would be equally open to corruption. If motorists flouting the law were ticketed instead, as used to be the case, then a corrupt driver and corrupt policeman could agree on a bribe so that a ticket was not written.
Driver and police corruption can be a problem, and we need to remember that two corrupt people are involved with every bribe, but changing law enforcement systems does not solve it.
Others complain that they do not have the money for the required fine on them when they are caught breaking traffic laws. Well here the police do have an extension to the system, allowing people to proceed to the nearest police station and either parking their vehicle while they dash round to the nearest ATM or negotiating with the station over how to pay; a lot depends on how honest the drivers are and how well documented.
The third complaint is the only one with any merit; some drivers honestly think the police are mistaken, or that the circumstances are such that they feel any penalty is grossly unfair. They would like to go to court. Here a small modification to the system could be required. Again the police would have to be satisfied that the information on addresses and the like was correct and that the driver would appear in court on the stated day.
But we need to remember just what sort of offences attract spot fines. Only minor offences can be settled with such a fine. If you cause an accident, or are driving negligently or recklessly, then you have to go to court. So most drivers invited to pay a spot deposit fine are: speeding, but not going that much over the limit; or are shooting an amber traffic light when they could have safely stopped; or treat a red light as a “give-way” sign; or are failing to display the disc proving they have
paid their road taxes; or are using the wrong lane; or are failing to obey signs banning a right-hand turn; or are failing to carry minimum safety equipment.
These are not major crimes. They tend to attract penalties ranging from US$5 to US$30. They are not listed on a criminal record. They are irritating to many, but that constant police vigilance is starting to bring down our atrocious accident rates. The serious, and rarer, infringements cannot be settled by spot fines or any other deposit fine.
In the past such relatively minor infringements of traffic rules meant a ticket and a few days to go to a police station, show driver’s licence, registration book and insurance certificate, and either pay the deposit fine or confirm the court date. Spot fines were first introduced to cope with visitors, who simply left the country without paying knowing that no-one is ever extradited for a minor traffic offence.
Then they were extended to everyone as the police found more and more Zimbabweans were either lying about where they lived or worked, or simply did not bother to go to their nearest police station and sort the fine out. As Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri noted recently, spending US$1 000 to hunt down someone who owes a US$5 fine is absurd. In any case, so many drivers now flout traffic laws that any other system could easily be swamped.
We think, in any case, that most motorists prefer spot fines to the older bother of having to gather documents, stand in a police station queue and pay the deposit fine. The sort of infringements that attract these sort of fines are pretty clear cut. Few drivers deny that they were in the wrong, they just feel aggrieved they were caught while many others were not. Legally that is not an excuse.
Home Affairs co-Minister Kembo Mohadi sparked the latest debate by suggesting that a points system could replace fines. With due respect to the minister, in those countries which have introduced point systems, these are additional to the fines, not replacements.
A points system is designed to force drivers to be better, not to punish those committing minor offences. In Zimbabwe, for serious offences, your driver’s licence can be endorsed or withdrawn. But nothing happens to it if the offence is minor, even if you are caught speeding moderately every day for a year. In a points system
you might earn a point or two for every minor offence, and when the total hits 20 you lose your licence. So under these systems you still pay your fine, but receive
a practical incentive not to repeat the offence.
So we largely agree with the Commissioner –General over spot fines. He still needs to keep up his pressure on reducing corruption, by motorists as well as police, but that is unrelated to any penalty system. The only improvement we offer is to start charging drivers who offer bribes as well as police who seek them.
And we think he needs to give a little more discretion to the senior police officer in each traffic patrol in that small minority of cases where either the driver does not have cash on them or where there could be doubt over the nature of the offence. And if drivers wanting such discretion exercised have to start carrying registration books and last month’s rates bill, to prove who they are and where they live, so be it.
Another modification worth considering, with the granting of more discretion, would be a much higher fine for contempt of court, that is not turning up on the day, and the introduction of a system of making guilty motorists who insist on a court appearance pay the costs of a successful prosecution; other jurisdictions do this so someone arguing over a US$10 fine might pay an extra US$1 000 in costs if found guilty.
So the spot fine system works, criticism is largely unmerited, and small improvements would make it better and cope with the odd case of perceived injustice.
Online Reporter