Nyore Madzianike
Senior Reporter
THE police are attending to complaints from motorists over traffic violations detected by the newly introduced Smart Traffic Management System, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe has said.
Close to five million traffic violations have so far been recorded by the system, with motorists being notified of the offences through SMS messages sent by the police.
Responding to questions during the National Assembly Question and Answer Session in the House of Assembly, Minister Kazembe acknowledged that some motorists had complained about receiving notifications for offences they believe they had not committed.
“Yes, I want to thank the honourable member for such a very pertinent question, and that is very true,” he said.
“We received a couple of or a few complaints from the citizens in that regard, and the issues being looked at are evidence to suggest that the system is making a mistake.
“With this system, before the ticket is issued, there is a validation process. I was talking to the Commissioner General to say, “There are these complaints; can you please attend to them.”
Minister Kazembe said the Government was taking responsibility for the concerns raised and that police officers were working to address the reported errors.
“Mr Speaker Sir, this is a new system. I am not trying to justify the errors; we take responsibility, and we are attempting to reduce the number of errors,” he said.
“But the officers are supposed to validate before the ticket is issued. So, some of you might have missed it, as I am speaking right now, people are busy rectifying that situation.
“But the good thing is the system allows you an opportunity to view the data, to confirm whether it was indigenous.
“I think it’s a plus on the system. I am not just saying it is a problem, but it is a plus that gives you an opportunity.”
Minister Kazembe said citizens are not forced to pay the fines before verifying their tickets.
“We are not being asked to pay without verification. That might give you a chance to check if the ticket is correct or not. But that has to be done by the police officer before they make a decision,” he said.
“On a scale, for every percentage, we want to believe that the system is 98 percent accurate, but that does not justify those errors.”
Minister Kazembe said TelOne was behind the new Smart Traffic Management System.
“We have allowed a local company to come up with a local solution to our problems,” Minister Kazembe said.
“This has been done; the system has been designed by a local company. So when people come to us, we want to say thank you very much; we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
“But I will take responsibility, and we are attending to that issue.”
