From today, the City of Cape Town's traffic service department will send out SMSes to alert motorists of traffic fines, as well as allow them to pay fines using their smartphones.
The city says a text message containing a Web link will be sent to motorists' cellphones and they will be able to view the fine by inputting their identification number, with additional options to download or e-mail the fine, or pay it directly from the link.
According to mayoral committee member for safety and security, alderman JP Smith, the link contains a privacy policy disclaimer which has to be read before a fine can be viewed.
Smith says the city's service provider will be responsible for generating and sending the fine notices that will contain the following message: "Notice posted for traffic fine C7/11745/806/024423 for ID xxxxx. Pay R2 000 at Cape Town Traffic Dept. Ensure vehicle registration address is correct. If not, you may not receive traffic fine. Legal process will continue. Next step summons to appear in court."
He explains: "The text messages are designed to make life easier for our residents and take the pain out of paying traffic fines. They'll also be very useful in ensuring motorists receive timeous notification of outstanding fines as we do experience challenges with first notices getting lost or being delayed in the postal system, but also motorists who don't update their address details on eNatis and subsequently do not receive the fines."
The new SMS service will not replace the traditional mailing of first traffic fine notices, as these will still be sent via the South African Post Office. The service will allow the city to monitor exactly how many people received the text message, opened it, and downloaded or paid the fine, Smith says.
"It's going to take a while for people to get used to this new service. I want to remind the public that this is simply one more option available to them to pay their outstanding fines. You can still use any of the existing channels to pay fines."
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