Can the traffic cop send my vehicle for a roadworthy without giving reasons?

Question:

Can a traffic cop take your company vehicle’s(Quantum Panel VAN) license disc, hand a document to say it must go for a roadworthy and give no reason for the test???

Answer:

Unfortunately, a traffic officer may do exactly what you described at his/her sole “discretion” and there is no operational standing order that they must provide a reason for it.

This is a terribly unfair power that they have been granted and it is wide open to abuse. You can however contact the traffic department concerned and lay a complaint against the traffic officer in question if there was no valid reason for the issue of a discontinuation notice.

Best Regards,

Howard Dembovsky
National Chairman – Justice Project South Africa (NPC)

• A traffic office can issue a Notice to Discontinue (NTD) in terms of regulation 148. This regulation also specifies that the traffic officer shall remove the disc and destroy it if the vehicle may not be operated on a public road.