Sonja Carstens

Do you know what your rights are if you're stopped at a roadblock? Find out what the experts say.

你知道当你被警方路障难拦下来后的权利吗？请看专家怎么说。

Johannesburg - A motorist may insist on seeing a warrant of arrest or a copy immediately after being arrested by a policeman or traffic officer.

约翰内斯堡消息，一名驾车者在被警方拘捕时坚决要求看到拘捕授权。

An arrest is unlawful unless the cop produces a warrant of arrest. The motorist may resist arrest in this instance and may claim damages from the traffic department.

除非警察出事拘捕授权，否则拘捕都是非法的行为。驾驶者受到非法拘捕可向交通部门索取赔偿。

These are the views of legal experts after Beeld was inundated by calls from motorists who complain they don't know what to do if they're stopped at road blocks. "Motorists are intimidated and treated rudely while waiting for hours to see if a warrant is issued," one reader complained.

A legal expert said a person may only be arrested without a warrant if the person committed a crime in his/her presence.

A person may also be arrested if there is reasonably suspicion that the person has committed a serious offence such as pre-meditated murder, rape or armed robbery.

A policeman or traffic cop may not prevent a motorist from proceeding with his/ her journey while he/she tries to determine whether the motorist might have trespassed in the past. The motorist is regarded innocent until proven guilty.

The law does not make provision for a policeman/traffic cop to prevent a motorist from leaving until the officer has established whether the motorist had committed a crime in the past. The motorist is considered innocent until proven guilty.

It's also the national prosecuting authority's policy that traffic departments countrywide have to issue traffic summonses for contraventions captured on camera within 30 calendar days, otherwise they become invalid.

The prosecuting authority recently warned several offices of the directors of public prosecutions to stick to these regulations carefully following complaints from the public to the contrary.

These summonses are only applicable to traffic summonses posted to motorists and not summonses served on motorists.

The experts say a motorist may also ask to see the appointment certificate of the messenger of the court serving the summons.

南非故事并不是一个新闻媒体，也没有独立的新闻来源，但考虑到中文的南非新闻可以提供很多有用的信息，同时南非也是一个新闻自由度非常高的国家（点击这里看国际记者无国界组织对南非新闻自由的评价），通过新闻可以对各方面有真实的了解，所以我们定期及时对南非各媒体新闻进行转发并对关键内容进行中文转述，但我们无法保证能第一时间发布同时内容也请以英文原文为准。新闻内容以国内无法了解到而且感兴趣的为主，主要以治安、要闻为主，不着重体育、娱乐、科技、财经、军事等类别，如果需要全面的新闻，还请访问南非本地新闻媒体网站。