The controversial Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act with its points demerit system will take effect on 1 July 2024, Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga has announced.
The City of Cape Town has a plan, however, to largely avoid implementing it within its area of jurisdiction, said JP Smith, the mayoral committee member for safety and security.
The countrywide implementation of Aarto has been pending for 25 years, Chikunga said, with pilot projects in Johannesburg and Pretoria running for years but without the points demerit system.
Government has repeatedly announced implementation dates, only to postpone them later. The latest delay came after the high court found Aarto to be unconstitutional. This finding was, however, overturned by the Constitutional Court in July.
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“We have engaged with the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) to assess our state of readiness for [the] accelerated rollout of Aarto across all municipalities in the country. We are pleased that our progress on the eve of the constitutional challenge enables us to target July 1, 2024, for the nationwide rollout of Aarto,” Chikunga said.
The RTIA is an agency of the Department of Transport tasked with administering Aarto.
Aarto is aimed at lightening the burden on the courts by replacing judicial enforcement with an administrative process. It is promoted as a way of getting repeat offenders off the roads by having the licences of drivers suspended when they have more than a set number of demerit points.
The pilot projects in Tshwane and Johannesburg have, however, shown little evidence of improved road safety and were associated with administrative problems.
Key issues
One of the key issues was the service of documents through the dysfunctional Post Office. Motorists often did not receive contravention notices, and the matter would then be escalated automatically to a point where an enforcement order would be issued.
During the pilot phase, this would result in an increased fine – but once the demerit system is a reality, it could cost a motorist their driver’s licence.
Government has tried to remove some of the pitfalls by amending the Aarto Act and providing for electronic service of documents by, for example, e-mail.
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The Automobile Association (AA), the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) and various other role players in the transport industry are sceptical that the RTIA and other relevant government agencies will be able to cope with the significant administrative burden.
They point out that the loss of a driver’s licence due to administrative bungling is a huge risk that may cost an individual their job and paralyse whole fleets.
RTIA spokesperson Monde Mkalipi confirmed the tribunal that will consider representations still has to be appointed, but progress is being made in this regard. In addition, the nine provincial MECs for transport must sign off on the implementation. That of the Western Cape is still outstanding.
The City of Cape Town has also, for a long time, been strongly opposed to Aarto, but Smith said this is no longer a problem.
Options
According to Smith, recent legislative amendments allow municipalities, where provincial laws or municipal by-laws cover the same contraventions, to elect whether they use those laws or Aarto for enforcement.
These are in place in the Western Cape and Cape Town. “We got a legal opinion from senior [counsel] that confirms our interpretation. We have decided to use Aarto only for speed enforcement, but moving violations will be dealt with in terms of the provincial legislation and municipal by-laws.”
He believes there is enough time before 1 July 2024 for other municipalities to adopt similar by-laws to avoid switching to Aarto.
“If we see the RTIA is struggling with the administration and Aarto does not work, we will adopt by-laws to enforce speed limits as well.”
Advocate Stefanie Fick, executive director of the accountability division at Outa, has encouraged municipalities to follow Cape Town’s example.
“Municipalities countrywide are going to lose money because a large portion of the revenue from Aarto fines goes to the RTIA. In addition, they must incur significant costs for the infrastructure to implement Aarto. They must do what is necessary to ensure successful law enforcement,” she said.
Aarto is extremely complex, and fleet managers especially will carry greater risk. The operator will also incur demerit points based on the conduct of its drivers. “That may result in a ban on the operations of the whole fleet due to the misconduct of a few drivers. That can destroy a company overnight,” Fick said.
Accountability a two-way street
Cornelia van Niekerk, owner of Fines4U, which manages traffic fines on behalf of 1 600 businesses and 12 000 individual drivers, pointed out that the strict timelines in the Aarto process do not only apply to motorists but authorities as well.
This was confirmed in an earlier court ruling obtained by the company on behalf of its clients.
“If you did something wrong, you must pay, but we keep an eye on the authorities to ensure a fair and lawful process. Often it is not the case, and then we insist that the relevant fines be cancelled,” she said.
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