Road Transport and Safety Agency
RATSA

RTSA challenged to explain continued mounting of ‘illegal’ speed traps

The Road Transport and Safety Agency – RTSA has been challenged to explain why its officers working together with traffic police are slowly returning on the roads and mounting ‘illegal’ speed traps which are more of an entrapment than mitigating the vice of over-speeding and dangerous driving.

The Zambian government has invested and installed an automated traffic monitoring system that has CCTV and speed monitoring equipment capable of central monitoring which remains largely un-deployed and was intended to replace the more corruption prone spot monitoring system with no central command and independent monitoring

An analysis by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT of the 2022 national budget and the corresponding details of revenue estimates shows that government has clearly abandoned the collection of speed fines for the 2022 budget but increased the budget of revenue collected from admission of guilt fines.

RTSA is the agency that is mandated to collect speed fines but the situation on the ground seems to be that traffic police officers have taken advantage of RTSA’s lack of policy implementation and leadership to mount illegal speed traps and extract bribes from motorists at discounted admission of guilt rates.

The new government has been preaching about stumping out corruption but the mounting of ‘illegal’ speed traps continues in broad day light, making most members of the public question the sincerity of its anti-corruption stance.

A check on the government estimate for non tax revenue collection under speed fines shows that there is zero planned revenue on this line. The government has dropped from collecting K6.9 million in 2020 to Zero in the 2021 and 2022 budget.

It is perhaps this lack of accountability on speed fines that is fueling rampant corruption on speed fines collections. Government has clearly not budgeted to collect any amount from speed fines for 2022.

RTSA needs to make sure that admission of guilt fines on traffic related issues should be paid into the treasury and not end up in the pockets of a few corrupt traffic officers. The opportunity for discounting and pocketing of admission of guilt fines can be fully eliminated by making use of the installed automated system.

There is urgent need for clear leadership from RTSA and the Minister of Transport Frank Tayali and his Home Affairs counterpart Jack Mwiimbu on this issue of illegal speed traps and continued extraction of bribes by some few corrupt police officers.

Moreover, the government has installed security cameras and CCTVs on key roads and road junctions at great cost to the treasury and the Zambian tax payers that can be employed for automated monitoring and taking of adequate measures to curb over-speeding and other road vices.

Employing of an automated and security camera network across the country is not only a more modern way to achieve 24/7 road monitoring, but also removes the opportunity for corruption as records are held centrally and any fines can be paid directly into national coffers.

Tayali whose ministry has taken over the mandate to collect the funds should therefore take responsibility to end this vice now that they are still fresh in office as these illegal speed traps continue to dent the image of both RTSA and the Zambia Traffic Police. It’s important to acknowledge that corruption is mostly measured by perception rather than reality.

Before illegal speed traps return fully and become business as usual, the government has an opportunity to simply switch on the already installed automated system of traffic cameras monitoring and road accident control measures.

Traffic police officers still have a role to play as they can stationed at designated points and then be sent in to timely arrest dangerous drivers, intercept erring vehicles and vehicle owners found wanting through communications from the automated traffic monitoring central command Centre as well as perform any other roles that does not involve cash handling.- Zambian Business Times

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