plaky
Race Dog
As I sit here writing this thread and I am so pissed off. Yesterday afternoon on my way home on my bike I was pulled off by the infamous traffic cop Mr Gouws in a black VW CC. He drove like a maniac to pull me off. Firstly he was very aggressive when he asked me for my license. He then said how can I move across lanes without indicating. He then said that I did went over a sold line as well. Firstly I was pulled off a year ago for the same offence and since then I indicate with every lane change and tried to challenge this with him. He then got more aggressive with me and then realized I must back off as I know that I am not going to win this one. He then fined me R2500 for inconsiderate driving. I could not believe it when I saw he had written that. How can I ride inconsiderately in peak hour traffic on the N1 near Plattekloof doing 60km/h. Why would I risk my body and life to do this as I commute every day by bike and know how careful I ride especially as I have a new bike with 1200km on it and have had two shoulder operations in the last two years. The last thing I want to do is take any chances. How does he get from not indicating to inconsiderate driving????? I suppose the fine for this is higher than not indicating. We all know this guy is a power freak and targets bikers and is well known in Cape Town for this. I am going to contest this with the public prosecutor at City Hall in Cape Town tomorrow. Does anyone know if these ghost vehicles have video camera's as I would love to see the footage. If not then it is his word against mine. He then said I am lucky he is only fining me R2500 as it could have been R6000!!!!!! For what I ask myself. I bit my lip and held my pose as I was ready to explode. If I was guilty of inconsiderate driving I would be the first one to admit this, trust me. I almost get taken out daily by people texting, talking on their cells, woman doing make up and people not indicating when changing lanes, but they are not pulled off, just us bikers. Any suggestions on how I can handle my case with the public prosecutor. I wish I had video of this so called offence. Any advice will be appreciated. I am not a happy chappy!!!!
I saw the public prosecutor this morning and what a great guy. I explained my issue to him and he said that I must go to court on the 20th Jan 2015 and state my case to challenge the charges. The case will then be postponed to get Gouws in to testify at a later date. He then said I can put my reasons forward for a price reduction and he will consider my facts. After I did, he reduced the R2500 inconsiderate driving fine to R700 and not showing my license disk which was R500 down to R190. I had a temp license plate as the bike is brand new and the date had expired on the temp plate by a few days. I kept forgetting to put the disk on. I was happy to pay that as I was wrong in this case. Sooooo from R3000 down to R890, I am feeling a little better but Gouws is still a thorn in all our sides. The prosecutor said that they can fine us at random and we will have to defend it each time in court, so they can be the aggressive, unreasonable people that they are and get away with it!!!!! I hope that karma does its job! It was really worth my while this morning as the whole exercise took me 35 min. Crazy part is that I can only pay after the 6 Jan 2015 as the system cannot be loaded before then with all the details! It will now be a special trip into town to pay the fine! Welcome to Africa!
I saw the public prosecutor this morning and what a great guy. I explained my issue to him and he said that I must go to court on the 20th Jan 2015 and state my case to challenge the charges. The case will then be postponed to get Gouws in to testify at a later date. He then said I can put my reasons forward for a price reduction and he will consider my facts. After I did, he reduced the R2500 inconsiderate driving fine to R700 and not showing my license disk which was R500 down to R190. I had a temp license plate as the bike is brand new and the date had expired on the temp plate by a few days. I kept forgetting to put the disk on. I was happy to pay that as I was wrong in this case. Sooooo from R3000 down to R890, I am feeling a little better but Gouws is still a thorn in all our sides. The prosecutor said that they can fine us at random and we will have to defend it each time in court, so they can be the aggressive, unreasonable people that they are and get away with it!!!!! I hope that karma does its job! It was really worth my while this morning as the whole exercise took me 35 min. Crazy part is that I can only pay after the 6 Jan 2015 as the system cannot be loaded before then with all the details! It will now be a special trip into town to pay the fine! Welcome to Africa!
