Watch out for these speed traps in South Africa

South African law enforcement authorities use three primary forms of speed traps to catch motorists exceeding the speed limits on the country’s roads.

These include fixed cameras, portable radar scanners manned by officials, and average-speed-over-distance (ASOD) systems.

MyBroadband asked the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) which forms of speed traps were most effective in issuing fines to offenders, but it hadn’t answered our questions by publication.

While they are easy to spot, ASOD speed traps are the most difficult to avoid. They use two cameras installed at a predetermined distance from one another on any length of road.

They are usually installed on poles suspended above the road.

A vehicle’s number plate is scanned as it enters the ASOD zone and again when it exits. The system then calculates how fast the car travelled in the zone based on the time it takes to reach the second camera.

This forces motorists to adhere to the speed limit or drastically reduce their speed for some distance before they reach the second camera.

These systems are currently used over several sections of the N1 highway in Limpopo and the Western Cape, as well as along sections of the N3 between Johannesburg and Durban.

Fixed cameras installed on South African roads are the most basic form of speed trap used by traffic authorities.

These traps typically use either piezoelectric strips or radar technology to detect infringements.

The former uses strips installed across a road’s surface to convert mechanical or thermal inputs to electrical signals to determine a car’s speed.

If the vehicle is travelling at excessive speed, the system uses a camera to capture a picture of the offending vehicle’s licence plate.

The alternative form of fixed speed cameras uses a radar-based system that bounces radio waves off a passing vehicle and measures the change in frequency over a certain distance to calculate the car’s speed.

Traffic officials also use manned physical scanners to nail speeding motorists.

Like some fixed cameras, these scanners use radar technology. However, they can scan up to five lanes of traffic and 32 vehicles simultaneously.

A widely used portable model is the X1-A scanner provided by Syntell.

These cameras must be calibrated every 12 months by an accredited laboratory for captured offences to be enforced.

Modern technologies have made it relatively simple to avoid the fixed speed traps and manned portable scanners.

Platforms like Google Maps and Waze show where most fixed speed traps are situated on South Africa’s roads, and enable users to report the location at which they see police or manned speed cameras.

This enables motorists to exceed the speed limit until they reach the camera, before which they can slow down to or below the speed limit to avoid capture.

One area in Gauteng generated R19.5 million in fines in five years

Justice and constitutional development minister Mmamoloko Kubayi recently revealed that traffic authorities at OR Tambo International Airport issued R19.52 million in traffic fines over the past five financial years.

The most significant portion of this figure came in the 2019/20 financial year, when authorities issued R8.78 million in traffic fines in the area.

The next-highest portion came in 2021/22 when authorities issued fines totalling R4.05 million.

In April 2025, the Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) revealed that speeding, ignoring stop and traffic lights, and using phones while driving were the top three most common reasons traffic fines are issued in South Africa.

The AA highlighted the top 10 most common offences, and those mentioned above were followed by offences like failing to wear seatbelts, driving under the influence, reckless and negligent driving, illegal parking, and driving without a valid licence.

In South Africa, two systems are used to penalise traffic offences — the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA) and the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO).

The CPA handles traffic violations as criminal offences, with offenders facing potential court dates and criminal records, depending on their offence. It does not incorporate a demerit system.

Meanwhile, the AARTO system, which is only used in Johannesburg and Tshwane, focuses on the administrative handling of traffic violations and offers a streamlined process for dealing with fines.

AARTO is currently expected to implement a demerit points system from September 2025 onwards.