advertisement
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Reddit

SANRAL has been spying on motorists for the last 18 months

SANRAL has been using its network of eToll gantries to gather, for the last year-and-a-half. The eToll gantries can read the number plates on cars, and the company has used the data to compile statistics on what costs would be for motorists.

The company says it never announced that the gantries are actively collecting data, because it was only to test the system and does not affect motorists. In a release it issued, the company says that it used data from 2.5-million passing cars to determine that 82.8% of South African motorists – or at least those in Gauteng, where the eToll gantries are operational, will pay only R100 per month in eToll fees. It goes on to be more specific, too, saying that only 4 700 motorists will travel enough to pay the maximum capped amount of R450 per month. Road users, SANRAL is eager to point out, will only be eligible for this maximum capped price if they register for an eTag. If not, the prices will be approximately double.

According to SANRAL’s calculations, in order to reach the R450 tolling limit, a road user would have passed 301 gantries and travelled 2 760km in a month, on the tolled roads.

According to Paul Jacobson, at web.tech.law, it’s legal to monitor plates – they are already viewable by the public, after all. He does emphasise that what’s being done with the information is more important. The data being collected needs to be kept secure, as each number plate is tied to personal information for each of the license holders. Protecting the personal information of those on file is also something that’s about to be made legal, by the protection of private information (POPI) bill. The troubled eToll project is already facing staunch opposition from the public, and even the slightest hint that it is seemingly acting out of line won’t help the case of officials who are urging motorists to register their accounts.

SANRAL is keen to point out that only 201km of Gauteng roads will be tolled using the eToll system. Perhaps it forgets that the outcry isn’t that the roads will be tolled, but rather that people feel the government should have paid for infrastructure development itself, using taxes it already collects.

advertisement

About Author

advertisement

Related News

advertisement