Getting the occasional traffic ticket is part of being a driver, although they’re best avoided. Apart from the expense, paying your traffic fines used to mean a long, uncomfortable wait in a queue. No matter where you happened to be in South Africa, from Polokwane to Cape Point and everywhere in between, whether you were paying at the traffic department or the post office, waiting in line for ages just to pay your fines was simply an unpleasant but inescapable part of life.

Thankfully, these days you have an alternative to this outdated infrastructure. It’s still not a good money choice to let traffic fines eat into your budget, but at least you don’t have to let them eat into your time. Pay your fines online and you can skip the queues completely.

The 2 types of South African traffic fines

• Section 56 notice - This fine is issued to you in person when you are pulled over for speeding, for example, or caught driving without a valid driving licence. A section 56 notice has a court date prescribed on it. You must settle your fine before this date or appear in court on the prescribed date to explain why you are not guilty of the offence.
  
  
• Section 341 notice - This fine is issued when you’re photographed speeding by automatic speed cameras or for violations recorded in your absence, like a parking ticket or a missing vehicle licence disc. If you fail to pay these fines, you will be sent a reminder notice. If your fine remains unpaid, you may then receive a court summons.

It’s a good money habit to pay your fines promptly online

Apart from avoiding long queues if you pay your fines online, it also makes financial sense to settle early. Fines for most traffic offences come with an automatic discount of 50% if you pay within 32 days. Thanks to digital connectivity, there are now several online solutions to help you pay your fines quickly and conveniently. So, even if your hatred of queues in the past has caused you to put off paying until after the grace period has lapsed, it doesn’t have to be the case in the future.

Pay your fines directly from your bank account

The traffic department, like many government departments, is happy to partner with the private sector to ease the load on public service delivery. If you’ve lost the original ‘notice of offence’ – the ticket that was issued to you or attached to your car – you can check any outstanding fines in your name by signing up to aarto.co.za and entering your identity number.

If you find that you do have outstanding fines, search your web browser for terms like ‘South Africa’, ‘pay traffic fines online’ and perhaps your municipality. This search will bring up services like PayCity and PayMyFines, among several other companies that provide a secure interface to regional traffic departments’ bank accounts, allowing you to pay fines digitally with your preferred debit or credit card.

Make sure to have the 16-digit number on the notice of offence handy, as well as your vehicle’s registration number and your ID number.

As always, it is wise to do some research before you use these sites – check social media reviews and business review sites like Hellopeter.com to make sure you’re using an authentic, trusted service.

More convenient offline payment options

You can, of course, also use your Nedbank account card to pay fines in person if you prefer to. Apart from the post office and the traffic department, certain retailers now make it easy to pay your fines when you do your grocery shopping. If you shop at off-peak times, you can still avoid the queues. These stores include:

• Spar
• Lewis
• Pick n Pay
• Shoprite Checkers
• Engen Quickshop
• Woolworths

You will again need your 16-digit notice number, your vehicle’s registration number and your ID number to pay your fines at these retailers. Enquire in-store for more details.