Dissecting the incoming Aarto demerit system for drivers

As D-day for the contentious Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act looms, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) has moved to allay public fears, explaining that it was not intended to punish drivers but to inspire a culture of compliance.

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In fact, according to RTIA, the agency tasked with implementing and managing the system, the point demerit system, Aarto’s combative element, was unlikely to kick in with the Act on July 1, but once necessary regulations were promulgated and President Cyril Ramaphosa makes a proclamation.

Five stages

The transport department announced the Act’s effective date as July 1, but new details emerged last month when the department’s director-general Alec Moemi told Parliament that Aarto will not be introduced all at once, but rather over five different stages.

This did not sit well with the Automobile Association (AA), one of Aarto’s fiercest critics, as this added to too many questions than answers about its implementation, whether or not motorists will, from 1 July, be receiving Aarto infringement notices.

The association noted that in May, during his briefing of the National Council of Province about the department’s Annual Performance Plan, Moemi said this phase entails setting up the registry and all requirements, ultimately working towards the introduction of a demerit system.

“We are, however, unclear as to what this exactly means, or if this means Aarto will be implemented come 1 July at all.

“Communication on the roll-out of Aarto appears to be happening in the media with the Department of Transport not speaking on the matter at all. All of this is creating huge confusion among motorists throughout the country who are unsure if the legislation is or is not coming into force next month,” the association said in a statement.

ALSO READ: AA hits out at Aarto’s cash cow draft

‘A lot can happen before 1 July’

Though he said the final statement on Aarto implementation will come from the transport department, RTIA spokesperson Monde Mkalipi explained that the agency was currently busy with the ground preparation for the implementation of the system.

He said they have to submit a report to the Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula, detailing that everything – including infrastructure, logistics and connectivity – for implementation of Aarto was in place.

“There are also regulations that need to be gazetted before [Ramaphosa] can make the proclamation and sign on the dotted line.

“Before the president does that, we have to submit a report [to Mbalula] that the country is ready to implement Aarto. So a lot can happen before July 1,” Mkalipi said.

He said no step should by-pass the legal prescripts; that the regulations are passed and that the president must sign off on the Act.

Mkalipi was unable to say when their report would be submitted, as documents were with the lawyers for cross-checking and reference, leading to the question of whether the demerit system will kick in on July 1 or not.

“The demerit system may or may not kick in on July 1. Currently the process is characterised by preparations and seized with ensuring readiness for the roll out of the system so the demerit system might as well kick in on the second phase of the implementation, once all the preparations were in place,” he said.

The demerit system means a driver will start at zero points, with the number of points incurred dependent on the gravity of the infringement and once the 12-point limit is exceeded, a driving licence is suspended for three months.

A driver will be subject to a fine or even jail time if found driving during this ‘prohibition period’.

Drivers’ licence is wholly cancelled on the third suspension and a driver must start from scratch with a learner’s licence.

But drivers can work their way back to zero points as the demerit points decrease by one point every three months.

Mkalipi said Aarto was the fairest process as the demerit system was the last to kick-in, once the driver had admitted or found guilty of a traffic infringement.

He said the system, which he said has been successfully implemented in Tshwane and City of Johannesburg, allowed for representations and the points system only kicked in once the matter was finalised.

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“We have a situation where fines are not paid and pile up so the system blocks you from renewing your licence if you have outstanding enforcement orders.

“If one is not happy with the fine, they can challenge it and have it cancelled, so Aarto is about fairness, compliance and not as a dagger on the neck of a driver.

“Even if you are blocked by the system, you can still challenge a fine through submission of a representation,” Mkalipi said.

siphom@citizen.co.za