I received a traffic camera infringement notice to which I…

Thank you for your additional posts.

Based on your comments you may have a valid argument to raise.

There are various defences that you can raised to assist in minimising the penalty that will apply.

Some of these defence include sudden emergency, provocation by another driver, road conditions, psychological stresses, mental health and so on.

One of the main supporting factors in running your defence is to obtain affidavits in support of your position as a good driver from people who know that you have a licence. These affidavits are character references to your person. The affidavit should detail that the person who signs it, knows of the penalty that has been raised against you, and that you still hold a good character and the matter in question is an incident that occurred due to unusual circumstances. You should obtain a minimum of three supporting references.

In addition usually when a traffic event happens, there is always a reason for it to occur, and especially when you are on the defensive side you can reduce the penalty level or have it withdrawn completely by providing supporting reports on the road incident through a traffic engineer, who will assess the circumstance and condition of the road relative to the time of the incident. This report will become a key element in your defence.

If you are unable to engage a traffic engineer, obtaining photos of the incident area and then drafting a relevant brief around the incident will help demonstrate what happened as why you took such action.

However, keep in mind, that where you contest the fine in court , and you are not successful in defending the same, the court may increase the fine and/or apply court costs as well for wasting the courts time.

When you decide to contest the fine the key element is to be able to identify whether there is a legitimate reason on the facts if the offence.

Where there are genuine grievance in regard to the fine, then it is worth contesting.

Keep in mind the court will consider some or all of the following points as well.

(a) Offence complete and established in accordance with the standard points of proof;

(b) Admission of offence;

(c) Good driving record as defined;

(d) Poor driving record as defined;

(e) Type of road - dual / divided;

(f) Location (residential / industrial / school / intersection);

(g) Time of day;

(h) Traffic density at time of detection;

(i) Speed zone (e.g. 40 km/h school zone);

(j) Weather conditions;

(k) Safety related offence as defined; and

(l) Previous convictions in the past ten (10) years

Where you choose to contest the fine, this can result in a lengthy and costly process. However, it can be done, but keep in mind where the camera is found not be faulty you may be required to pay associated costs with the producing the camera including court costs.

Keep in mind that the offences are a ‘direct liability offence’. This means that even if you are 1 KM of the speed limit, you are guilty of the offence, unless you can prove otherwise. The reason for this is based on public policy, which is for the protection of all people that use the roads.

Many traffic incidents are defended well by the driver in question and it is just a matter of putting together all the supporting evidence and then preparing your case.

You have a legal right to protect your interests in this situation.

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There are two aspects to put forward, one is the road condition and the second one is the argument of mental health as a result of the coronavirus pandemic seeking leniency on this particular aspect. If you have the available time you should get a clinical psychologist report to support this in front of the magistrate.

Can I talk to you on the phone. It's gonna be much easier to explain it to.

I understand what you have written. I understand that you're not the driver of the vehicle.

If you prefer to talk on the telephone, I have sent you a special offer of $8.00 to assist you in more detail, as it will make it easier to discuss your matter. I kindly request that you complete the details on the offer, and we can talk straight away as you need. Otherwise, we can keep chatting in this box.

What you can do is have an affidavit written clearly stating the history of the matter, to clarify the issues that you are dealing with, and then have that document served on the relevant authority. This will potentially clean up the whole matter.

Your local lawyer will help you draft this affidavit.