AA in Malawi 

In previous Know Your Rights articles in AutoFocus, we’ve tried to strike a sensible balance between advising motorists of their legal rights and encouraging them to uphold the law of the land, more specifically the Road Traffic Act.The powers and duties of a Traffic Police Officer are contained in Section 8 of the Road Traffic Act.  In brief, a Traffic Police Officer (or sometimes a Motor Vehicle Examiner) is authorised to:

• Require the owner or driver of any vehicle to produce a valid driving licence as well as his/her name and address name and address and give other particulars required for the purposes of his/her identification.

• Require the owner, operator or driver to produce for inspection any document related to the vehicle (eg, COF, insurance, vehicle registration)
• Iimpound any document which the Officer reasonably believes to be invalid or which appears to have been unlawfully altered or defaced.  Here, the Officer is required to issue a receipt to the person concerned.  
• Give a driver of any vehicle written notice to produce the vehicle for inspection, examination or testing at a specific time and place if, in his/her opinion, the vehicle does not comply with the requirements of the Certificate of Fitness test.

• Unless otherwise permitted by the owner, the officer is not allowed to drive any vehicle stopped for the purposes of applying the Road Traffic Act (unlike a Motor Vehicle Examiner, who is permitted to do so under the Act).
• Inspect any vehicle and its functioning to determine whether the vehicle complies with the Act (eg test the lights and horn, windscreen wipers etc).
• Detect and measure the speed of any vehicle on a public road using an approved measuring device. The Officer should produce a photograph indicating the actual speed of the vehicle and the driver may ask to see the calibration certificate of the device.
• Administer a breathalyser test to any driver of a vehicle on a public road.  The Officer must show the driver the printed report, which will indicate the blood alcohol concentration and also the date on which the machine was last calibrated.

There are various offences with which a Traffic Police can charge a driver on the road.  Whether or not on-the-spot fines are legal has raised a lot of debates culminating in court cases and this may be subject to future discussion on this forum should the need arise.  However, the current practice is to fine drivers at the roadside. 

The following are some of the common offences and fines prescribed in the updated Schedule appended to the Road Traffic Act on 25 October 2010:
The fines indicated on the preceding page are fixed penalties, not discretionary, and Traffic Police Officers do not have the power to increase or decrease the prescribed fines.

In applying the above powers and fines, the Officer is required to:

1. wear full uniform and produce his/her official identity card for inspection, if requested
2. clearly explain to the driver why he/she is in contravention of the law
3. issue a document called a “Notice of Intention to Prosecute”

On signing the Notice, the driver is indicating that he/she is Guilty of the specified offence and, in most cases, will pay the appropriate fine at the roadside for which the Traffic Officer must provide an official receipt.

In certain cases, the Notice may require the driver or vehicle’s owner to produce certain documents at a police station within a specified number of days.

The driver has the option to plead Not Guilty on the Notice of Intention to Prosecute, in which case he/she may have to argue the case in court.  In the event that he/she loses the case, he/she may be liable to pay the court costs in addition to the prescribed fine.

If the driver is unable to pay the fine on the spot, the Officer should issue a Notice of Intention to Prosecute and the driver must then pay the appropriate fine at a police station as soon as possible.

A Traffic Police Officer is not permitted to seize a valid document such as a valid driver’s licence where the purpose is to compel the driver to pay a fine either at the roadside or at a later date.  Although this is common practice, it is not supported by the law.