Cops trap pavilion doing 1km/h
2006-03-06 22:26
Storms River - It would pay motorists travelling along the Garden Route to take another look at speeding fines issued to them.
After a court case that has taken three years and cost thousands of rands, Dr Helena Bruwer of Knysna proved that speed-trap cameras at Storms River Mouth were being put to wrong use by four traffic officials.
At the request of magistrate Theresa Bothma, who was hearing the Bruwer-case, the speed-trap equipment was tested.
Much to everybody's surprise - including the traffic officials - the equipment showed that a pavilion at Humansdorp showground at which the speed cameras had been aimed had moved at a speed of 1km/h.
Bruwer said she became suspicious after receiving five speeding fines for allegedly driving too fast in an 80km/h-zone on the Storms River Road.
This was after she had been travelling between her home town and Port Elizabeth for 12 years without receiving a single speeding fine.
Read manual only up to page four
"It didn't make sense, and I told my brother, Eduard "Broekies" Bruwer, an advocate, about it."
Bruwer said they decided to take the matter to court.
"According to the traffic department's guidelines, the equipment used in speed traps has to conform to certain regulations."
"When my brother asked one of the traffic officials whether he knew about the tests that had to be done, he said he had read the manual only up to page four."
Bruwer explained that the officials had to do a speed test and calibrate the camera in order for the laser to be in the centre of the camera lens. These tests on the camera had to be performed every hour.
Bruwer said officials received a test pad on which they had to indicate whether they had done all the tests.
"These particular tests had been erased with a correcting pen on the traffic officials' test pads."
Cameras set up at tavern
Bruwer said not one of the traffic officials had known how to set up the equipment during the test run on the Humansdorp pavilion.
It was also found that the cameras had been set up at Dolfies Tavern, 200m outside the area where traffic officials had to set up their cameras, according to law.
"We are expected to obey the law, but the officials are not sticking to the prescribed rules."
After a verdict that lasted three hours, the magistrate exempted Bruwer of all fines.