No drivers licence: Legal Info requested

[Plato]

I wanted to know what the maximum penalty is for driving without a licence.

I was told that it is R1500 fine and thats it.

The reason I ask is because I`m having serious kak trying to get my licence as the call centre never seems to be able to help me with booking a test. I phone at 11:00 in the morning and they still dont have booking dates available. It really is rather frustrating.

I`m going to med school at the end of the month and the guy who I used to catch a lift with to varsity is staying on main campus.

My options are:

1) Take two buses in the morning to get to med school. Two buses home.
2) Drive without a licence and hope to <insert deity here> that I dont get caught.

I`ll keep on trying to book my licence anyway, but in all fairness I will probably only get a date in march some time.

I live in Jozie, just in case legislation is different in other parts of the country.

[DFFS]

Have u tried booking at other locations? Try the Wadeville (Germiston) branch.

[Plato]

I have but they arbitrarily changed the times that you can make a booking.

Although that still is an option, thanks for reminding me :)

[Shrimp]

I got my learners quite painlessly recently, the call centre number I called gave me a date/time/everything for the test instantly. Before trying that one, I was calling a rather useless one which never worked. I'll post the number I used when I can dig it up this evening, maybe they'll be more helpful.

[Plato]

Awesome thanks shrimp :D

[GM<Jaymac>MF]

Well, this is what happened to my dad once; He was caught without a licence because he accidentally left it at home. They gave him a R500 fine and told him that if he could produce a licence when he went to pay the fine it would be reduced to R200. That was about four years ago so maybe things have changed.

And maybe, if he couldn't produce a licence they would have slapped him with something harsher?

I have a licence but I lost it when it flew out of my pocket on a rollercoaster :( so I have been driving without one for about two years. Normally when I get pulled over I just tell the cops that I left it at home, or lost it, or it got stolen or something and they normally let me go without a problem. Nonetheless, I think driving without a licence is a stupid idea because we are breaking the law, and the last thing SA needs is more lawbreakers.

[Purple_H@ze]

Plato,

This may sound odd, but my brother in law went for his drivers license in swaziland :) LOL... one robot, 2 stop streets and a circle. He went on saturday morning, was back on saturday around 5pm... with a valid drivers license!

Just an idea, springs and the less populated area's are easier to get licenses mate.

Regards,
PH

[Plato]

Poips that sounds like a legendary idea :D

I don`t have a passport though so swaziland wouldn`t work :P

However springs isnt out of the question, I`ll see how desperate things get towards the end of the month.

Also, thanks alot for the info Jaymac. I agree that breaking the law {even traffic wise} is not a good thing, however the traffic department is a bit topsy turvy so for now it will have to suffice.

[Shrimp]

Number I used to book the learners, and will soon be using to book drivers, is: 0860 428 8364 (it's not immidetly clear you can do license bookings when calling that number, but if you ask I'm sure they'll organise you).

I opted to do the test in Randburg, which, while a little out of the way, was fairly well organised.

[[N]Haja]

I personally would not drive without a licence. All you need is one unreasonable cop, who had a kuk day and is down on his quota's for the month.

No, you may not get locked away for a long period of time, but all you need to do is spend one or 2 days in an SA jail, and your life is pretty much over (if you end up in the wrong cell).

Rather err on the side of caution IMHO, its just not worth the risk (specially being a white male in SA)

[Shrimp]

Except Plato is as black as the Ace of Spades.

[[N]Haja]

well, then he will be some dark chocolate desert for Bubba instead of vanilla ice cream :)

[Gamma Ray]

I`m going to med school at the end of the month and the guy who I used to catch a lift with to varsity is staying on main campus.



correct me if im wrong but if u have a criminal record are u still allowed to study medicine?

One of my friends thats studying BSC Med says the Tuks Med Campus is very strict bout having anything against your name?

Anyways if u really want i can send u a guy's number that works for a driving school and knows ppl in the centre,though this is in Thabazimbi but if u put in a few extra bucks u can get your apointment within 2-4 weeks

OR

i know Pretoria has some emergency licence tests that takes place on saterdays but it has to be either a good reason,ie learners expiring within a month,have to get a truck licence for job(work depends on it) .Yours sounds quite reasonable,i know theres a few centres that does it but the only one that i can think of now is in centurion

OR

Buy your licence


for about R1000-R1500 u can get one,well thats the norm
theres always risks concerning fakes

if u really search for these ppl im sure u can get a few qoutes under R1000

[igloo]

Plato, we know that greatest risk lies in the vast likelihood of you being stopped and (perhaps) unreasonably arrested on the way to an exam or some other most inconvenient point of your life.
Getting my license was one of the worst things I endured (mentally at least).

In any case, if it's worth the risk then, then it's worth the risk.

[GM<Jaymac>MF]

A buddy of mine was threatened to be arrested these holidays when we were stopped on the way to Natal and he didn't have his license on him. Turns out the cop was just looking for a bribe and after he saw that all of us preferred being arrested than to line his greeedy pockets, he just let us go.

Staying above the law FTW!

[Plato]

Thanks for all the help guys :)

1) No shrimp I am not black but I don`t think it would help anyway :P

2) I don`t want to buy my license as I don`t have a right to complain about the corruption in this country then without being a hypocrite, although I have considered this option as I felt desperate at one stage.

3) I`m almost certain that they cannot imprison you for even 1 day. Although igloo does make an excellent point that the last thing I need is stalling on the way to an exam.

That emergency thing sounds like a good idea. I do have a valid reason.

I will say, in the route that my friend and I took for the last two years, we`d only had a metro cop pulling cars over once in that time.

[[N]Haja]

3) I`m almost certain that they cannot imprison you for even 1 day. Although igloo does make an excellent point that the last thing I need is stalling on the way to an exam.



what they 'can do' ad what they 'do do' are 2 different stories.

I ended up on the wrong side of the law once. i was quite innocent, but got a bad cop, and ended up spending time in jail before I got released. Thank god it was minutes before I was about to go into General Population.

But if you think the risk is worth it, then I wish you all the best :)

[Plato]

Thanks Haj, I couldn`t sleep this morning from worry. Thats why I posted at 5:00 :P


You`re right bro.

I`m just gonna have to phone around like a demon these next few weeks.

I also came up with another plan: I know that Watloo in Pretoria only takes bookings from people who live in the area. They also do saturday thingies. Now whats nice is that I used to live in that Watloo feeder area in Pretoria when I was living with my dad. I haven`t changed the address on my ID so thats also an option.

Thank you all very much for your help :D

Edit: Gamma that emergency test thing was a brilliant idea! I`m going next wednesday to secure an early booking. Woot woot :)

[Thallium]

You are all forgetting something, to not have your license with you is small, to not be a LEGAL driver, having no license at all to your name, you are looking for shit driving around, even an expired license is far safer, you still have a license to your name

if you are in an accident, YOU are liable, if you drive over someone, YOU will be facing man slaughter, Zero tolerence for not being a legal driver.

if you are driving 30kph and some drunk dude jumps out infront of your car from behind a bush or something, where you had absolutely no control over and the dude dies, MAN SLAUGHTER... straight up, no chances.

No insurance will cover the vehicle you are in and the vehicle you crashed into, or crashed into you... you will have to cough it up yourself, or face charges.

For not being a legal driver, it's better being stopped by a cop than some merc ramming into you even if your car is stationary and switched off on a public road... it's your fault, you should not be there in the first place.

infact, that's how it is, your not a legal driver, no matter what happened, it's your fault, you not supposed to be there.

Don't be stupid, organise your license, or organise something else.

just my 2c :)

[[N]Haja]

well brought up thallium, something all of us forgot about. Listen to the man.

[Thallium]

or you will land up obeying babba...

thanks haj..

just one more thing, i'm not sure if they are able to do this yet, but if cops stop you, they can check your ID for a license, so if you lie to a cop and say your license is at home, and they do a check, you are screwed.. off you go to meet the famous "babba" for a night or two.

[enemyanemone]

Dude I'd just drive without one, my folks allowed me to drive a car with 16 so I wouldn't drive a motorbike. Because all they do apparently is fine you.

So I drove for 2 years until i got my license with 18, nothing happened, they never checked.

And even if they would, as long as you have your learners license you should be fine.
A friend of mine did the same, but had the learners already. He had an accident (cos a guy with a stolen radio ran into traffic, so he crashed into the car infront of him).
He told the police that there was a guy with a license in the car, but that he had to catch a flight at the airport and had left. Seeing that the police didn't want to go through the hassle of finding a guy overseas, they agreed to writing down that the mother was the passenger with the license.... and the insurance paid.
There is always a way ;)

[Thallium]

There is always a way ;)

and there's always a worst case scenario

you explained a best case scenario, i explained some of the worst. give or take.. imo

a few years ago, it was still cool, they are clamping down lately. you come across a nasty cop, you got problems...

[[N]Haja]

Agreed thallium.

Hell, I had a car a few years back that was having problems getting a licence. Because of that, I was unable to insure it (even balance of 3rd party). I was forced to drive the car, and then I had an accident.
Of all the cars to hit, I knocked into the back of a Jag. I ended up shelling out over 20k of my own money to fix the car, trust me, it hurt.

so ye, as thallium says, the worst case scenario is not always as pleasant

[Plato]

If there is a one thing I have taken away from the thread it is this:

Bubba don`t know no safe word.

Thnx for the scaring the sh|t out of me into organising to go {hopefully} for my license this saturday.

Man its gonna be sweet when I get it and having to worry about all those fuxin idiots without licenses killing me in an accident :P

[Syzygy78]

just dont mention its the first time you taking your driver's. I have a little conspiracy theory that they love to fail first timers... even if you perform immaculately.

getting my drivers was alot more stressful than writing matric exams

[=_sNaKe_=]

Building on your theory, Syz, I believe that they love to fail first-timers who they can see have been driving about without a license for a while.

[Plato]

This is actually my third time :P

Once was in pretoria about two years ago and the second one was recently, last year october {during my mother fuxin final exams}.

First one I failed like a foo', second one I was in a rush and made a stupid mistake.

I`m gonna take my sweet ass time on the road and drive like an old lady. Remember, stop, pull up hand brake, car in neutral and do a billion checks before driving off to make sure no mutant alien badgers have crawled into your engine :P

[Plato]

WOOT!!!!!!!

I finally got my license LEGALLY today

:D:D:D:D

My integrity is still in tact and I dont have to worry about being pulled over anymore.

:D:D:D:D

Thanks to Haj and Thallium for scaring the bejeezus out of me.

Thanks to Gamma for suggesting to go to that emergency booking thingie. I had to wake up at 3:00am to go book for it, but damn it was worth it :)


You are all talking to a free man now!

[Shrimp]

How'd you do it?

I took half a day off work yesterday to travel 4 hours to/from Lichtenburg (LOL) just to *book* the test, have to do it again in MARCH to do the actual test.

Worth it I guess, no queues at all, and testing is also easy due to Lichtenburg having like 1 robot, no traffic and no hills :). They do have a custom-built hill though, to test handbrake pull-offs, but it's nowhere near as bad as some of the hills in Florida :D.

[[N]Haja]

congrats Plato. Amazing what a bit of effort and a kick up the ass can do (beats Bubba up the **s any day :P )

WOOT! Now drive to deben and say hello

[cYan1D3]

Congrats Plato, well done. In Namibia you don't need to even book to go take your drivers just have to make sure you are the in the first 20 people to arrive there and if you fail there is always tomorrow...

[Plato]

LOL I wish I was in Nam cause that sounds a kak load easier than what I had to go through :P

@Shrimp: Randburg no longer works through the call centre so you have to rock up on wednesday morning REALLY early, where they book for the next week. I was 7th and I arrived at 4:00am. Then you stand in a queue until they open at 7:30am. I was standing for 4 hours, but it was worth every second! Also its a first come first serve thing hence why I got today as a booking.

[Shrimp]

Sheesh, nice :)

[Gamma Ray]

The best places are the quite village towns i still dont have my license but made an appointment the 17th of this month in Kwamshlanga(bout 60km out of pta/somewhere in mapumalanga) and got my appointment for the 23rd(same month),thats 6 days compared to places in pta that u have to wait 3 months,
i will suggest Kwamshlanga for every1 that needs it quick

edit:not sure how you spell kwamshlanga

[Plato]

Good luck bro :)

I hope you get it!

[Rakshas]

PLATO, u tried going in to book ur license ? Rather then just phoning them ?

And if u get caught driving without a license, at 8am and 6 pm then u got funny Traffic officers where u live, cause last i checked, roadblocks only set up at night after theres been a few parties. So u dont really have to worry bout it when driving 2 and from school ?

Peace