Business owners and fleet operators have been warned that unpaid traffic fines can lead to significant problems down the line.
Unresolved traffic fines can escalate into warrants and blocked licence disc renewals. In some cases, they can even lead to vehicles being taken off the roads.
This is according to Fines SA CEO Barry Berman, who said that many local business owners underestimate the impact that unpaid and accumulated traffic fines can have on their bottom line.
Berman explained that it is important for business owners to realize that, under South Africa’s traffic legislation, fines issued to fleet vehicles are typically linked to the business through its Business Register Number (BRN).
“This means the legal and financial responsibility sits with the owner of the vehicle, not the individual driver,” he explained.
This means that the company is on the hook for settling the fine, not the driver, and the company can, therefore not assume that fines are the driver’s responsibility.
“Without proper oversight, fines can accumulate across fleets, escalate into enforcement action, and create both financial and operational pressure,” Berman warned.
“Poorly managed fines also increase administrative complexity, particularly when fines build up and need to be settled in bulk.”
Berman noted that this issue is becoming more pronounced as traffic enforcement becomes increasingly digitized.
Businesses are facing a growing number of fines, with industry estimates now ranging into the millions of rands annually.
“Many companies focus on the face value of a fine, but the real cost sits in what happens when those fines are not paid or managed properly,” Berman said.
“Unpaid fines can escalate into warrants, prevent licence disc renewals, and ultimately take vehicles off the road.”
He said this is is particularly important for businesses that depend on fleet uptime, as unpaid fines mean their vehicles cannot legally operate, leading to delayed or cancelled services.
“In a fleet environment, one vehicle off the road is lost productivity and lost income. Multiply that across multiple vehicles, and the financial impact becomes significant very quickly,” he warned.
AARTO under fire in South Africa
Berman’s warning comes at a time when South Africa’s new traffic fine regulatory framework, the administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO), is facing public scrutiny.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) recently wrote to Transport Minister Barbara Creecy about its concerns regarding a public–private partnership tender linked to AARTO.
OUTA noted that the tender seemingly outsources core administrative and enforcement functions that already exist under the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC).
“Duplicating this capacity through a private contractor risks higher costs, operational complexity, and weakened institutional capability,” OUTA warned.
“Traffic enforcement is not meant to operate as a profit-driven exercise,” OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage said.
“When private entities stand to benefit from administrative processes linked to fines, it creates perverse incentives and erodes public trust. That is exactly what AARTO does not need.”
Loading ...
