More fines, fewer cautions: SA Police gets tougher on drivers in response to soaring road toll
SA’s road toll soared last year, and drivers are already noticing one impact – you’re now much more likely to get a fine rather than a caution if nabbed for one of the “fatal five” traffic offences.
Police & Courts
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Frustrated police officers are issuing far fewer cautions and more fines as the spiralling loss of lives prompts more penalties for bad drivers.
But as police crack down on the most serious breaches, motorists are also more likely to get away with just a warning for nuisance rule breaches.
In the second half of last year, as the number of lives lost on our roads climbed over 100, officers were handing out a weekly average of 1226 cautions for driver infringements.
This was far fewer than the 1660 a week at the same time in the 2018-19 financial year.
Motorists in 2018 had a 47.7 per cent chance of escaping a fine when pulled over. But in the latter half of 2019, that had dropped to a 42 per cent chance of avoiding a penalty.
The latest available figures, to October 2019, show SAPOL changed its strategy to target the “fatal five” worst driver habits.
A spokesman acknowledged SAPOL had to adapt to the sudden increase in fatalities. In 2019, 113 people died on the state’s roads, compared with 80 in 2018.
The rise in deaths meant “we needed to take some affirmative action, so we brought forward Operation High Impact Fatal Five,’’ the spokesman said.
“Less cautioning reflects the focus SAPOL have had on policing fatal five offences.”
The “fatal five” relates to offences that involve drink/drug, distracted or dangerous driving, speeding, or not wearing a seatbelt.
In an example of the crackdown, in 2018 most drivers speeding 10-19km/h over the limit in a school zone with children present were cautioned rather than fined (54 cautions, 16 fines).
But this was reversed in 2019, when 44 were fined and only 28 cautioned.
The police spokesman emphasised that cautions helped “educate and influence the attitudes and behaviour of road users”, which kept the road toll down.
Drivers who cause a minor nuisance around public transport, rather than a safety problem, such as driving in a bus lane, are now more commonly cautioned than fined.
In the second half of last year, these drivers were fined 30 times and cautioned 99 times but in the same period in 2018, they were fined 87 times and cautioned 101 times.
RAA safety and infrastructure senior manager Charles Mountain said the RAA backed cautions as a good tool to educate drivers.
“Driving in a bus lane is a good example, where motorists may be unsure of the distance they can legally travel in one before making a left-hand turn,’’ he said.
“When it comes to the worst type of driver behaviour, however, RAA supports the greater emphasis police placed on it in response to last year’s soaring levels of road trauma.’’
Truck drivers speeding and ignoring braking rules were hard hit late last year, as police battled to improve behaviour on the South Eastern Freeway.
Up to October in 2018-19, 324 truck drivers were fined. In the same period in 2019-20, 420 were fined.