Justice Project notes with concern e-toll threats by Sanral despite it being “sub-judice”

Justice Project South Africa has noted that SANRAL has again deployed its Chief Financial Officer; Ms Helga Mulder to threaten motorists with prosecution for the non-payment of e-tolls, despite the fact that e-tolling is currently under review by the Gauteng Provincial Government.

An article which appeared on Moneyweb on Monday 27 October 2014 bears testimony to the mechanics SANRAL intends using in furthering these criminal prosecutions, which it has waited for more than 7 months after the first prosecutions should have begun in April 2014. SANRAL has thereby created an enormous amount of prejudice, both in the monies allegedly outstanding to it and the quantum of individuals that will have to be prosecuted for non-payment of e-tolls.

On 1 September 2014, JPSA presented its submission to the Gauteng e-tolls review panel, warning of the socioeconomic disaster for South Africa as a whole that will ensue out of successful criminal prosecutions for non-payment of e-tolls but it would appear that SANRAL doesn’t much care what happens to the economy of South Africa if they are successful in creating a high volume of artificial criminals. It is still somewhat debatable whether SANRAL will be successful in prosecuting cases of the non-payment of e-tolls, but only a court will prove whether they will or will not.

The 2 cases currently undergoing prosecution must not be confused with prosecutions for non-payment of e-tolls, despite the fact that SANRAL has chosen to conflate these 2 cases with fraud charges applicable to e-tolling. Falsifying and defacing number plates are criminal offences under the National Road Traffic Act. Falsified number plates would ordinarily be prosecuted under the criminal charge of fraud, with charges under the National Road Traffic Act forming alternative charges.

The case of the former Deputy Chief of the Tshwane Metropolitan Police Department, Ndumiso Jaca, who fitted the same false number plates to a BMW Z4 and a Harley Davidson motorcycle which was instituted in 2011 is still ongoing. This matter is being heard in the Pretoria Regional Magistrates Court; the same court that the matter against Dr Stoyan Hristov Stoychev is being heard.

When it comes to the prosecution of motorists for the non-payment of e-tolls, the matter is not nearly as clear-cut as someone falsifying or defacing number plates and prosecuting the 2 clearly criminal matters cited by SANRAL is a far cry from prosecuting hundreds of thousands, if not over a million individuals for non-payment of e-tolls.

If SANRAL is planning to violate the Constitution by selecting a few “choice matters” to prosecute in the hope that they can scare others into submission, they need to be aware of the fact that this will not simply be overlooked. If they are successful in prosecuting large volumes of e-tolls “offenders”, they will create an environment of unemployable artificial criminals and will, as a result, cripple the economy of South Africa.

JPSA takes a very dim view of the repeated threats of prosecution by SANRAL, despite the fact that a supposedly democratic process is currently underway. In our view, this acutely demonstrates the fact that neither SANRAL nor the Department of Transport are in any way interested in listening to what citizens, political parties and other organisations think and have absolutely no intention of deviating from their plans to persist with e-tolls, regardless of whether they are efficient in getting the job done or not.

Best Regards,

;

Howard Dembovsky

National Chairman – Justice Project South Africa (NPC)

Justice Project notes with concern e-toll threats by Sanral despite it being “sub-judice”

IRC: Uninsured Motorists a Perplexing, Pervasive Concern

A new report shows there hasn’t been significantly ground gained in the battle to reduce the quantity of uninsured motorists on the road, and there’s nowhere experts can point their fingers to as an explanation of the pervasive dilemma.

From a percentage point of view the nation’s uninsured motorist dilema is on the decline, but the undesirable news is that the price of uninsured motorist claims has risen dramatically in the previous decade, according to a report from the Insurance coverage Study Council.

The report, “Uninsured Motorists, 2014 Edition,” shows the percentage of uninsured motorists in the U.S. fell to 12.6 percent in 2012 from nearly 15 % 9 years earlier.

Even so, the report estimates that $ 2.6 billion was paid to cover uninsured motorist claims in 2012. That is a 75 percent boost more than the 2003-2012 period studied, and that figure requires into account only bodily injury payments and not property harm.

“So these are quite low estimates,” stated Patrick Schmid, the author of the report.

Stricter laws and regulations haven’t had a noticeable impact, and while there’s a temptation to blame the economy for a greater or fewer quantity of motorists buying auto insurance, there’s no clear hyperlink there either, Schmid said.

Leading up the most recent recession, researchers noted that a 1 percent jump in the nation’s unemployment price seemed to lead to a roughly .5 percent enhance in the quantity of insured motorists. Yet throughout the last recession the ratio of uninsured motorists to bodily injury claim frequencies continued trending down slightly.

“There’s absolutely some aspect of that, that is certainly relevant here,” Schmid stated, offering his opinion that economics do come into play where the uninsured motorist difficulty is concerned.

He added, “It’s some measure of the economy, whether or not it is the unemployment price or some other measure, it definitely is involved right here.”

The report shows that in some states where unemployment tends to be greater the reported uninsured motorist to bodily injury claim frequency ratios have been higher. Oklahoma, Florida, Mississippi, New Mexico, Michigan and Tennessee were all above a 20 % ratio.

Oklahoma had the highest ratio of any states at 26 percent, whilst Massachusetts had the lowest at 4 %.

Of course, some of the most populous states had the highest numbers of uninsured motorists, such as California (4.1 million), Florida (3.2 million), Texas (1.6 million), Ohio (1.3 million) and Tennessee (1.2 million), the report shows.

The report estimates that there are practically 30 million uninsured motorists in the U.S., which represent roughly 1-in-8 drivers.

Penalties for driving without insurance vary by state, but according to Schmid there’s no apparent correlation between stiffer penalties and a reduction in the percentage of uninsured motorists.

He reasoned that could be an concern where regulations could be tougher, but enforcement is not.

Regardless, with far more motorists acquiring behind the wheel as the nation’s population continues to grow, the difficulty is become a higher concern, the report states.

“Motorists who forgo purchasing insurance coverage develop a difficulty that is of fantastic concern to auto insurance coverage policyholders, insurers, regulators, and the basic public,” the report states. “In addition to paying for insurance that covers their own actions, insured drivers pay a portion of the expenses incurred by drivers without insurance coverage through uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. For insurers, costs associated with UM claims can be substantial.”

Thanks to rising healthcare costs, count on paid claims due to uninsured motorist accidents to rise, Schmid stated.

Adding a little fuel to fire up concern over the issue, Schmid noted that the decline in uninsured motorist prices could be a trend that’s becoming driven by an escalating number of motorists receiving reduce-price insurance.

“While we’ve seen that the percentage has been declining, if it is correct there are less uninsured motorists, is it feasible that the number of underinsured motorists have been increasing,” Schmid said. “May be much more folks are obtaining low-limit coverage, and that’s making the percentage of uninsured motorists fall. And some of the regulations out there might enhance the uninsured motorists difficulty but worsen the underinsured motorists issue. We’ve truly seen there’s a tiny of a tie in there.”

IRC: Uninsured Motorists a Perplexing, Pervasive Concern