Road traffic offences amendment bill could cost motorists their licenses

Once the bill is passed, motorists that continue to break the laws will lose their driving licences through suspensions and cancellations of their driver’s licenses.

A public hearing on the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) Amendment Bill was held last Friday at Kanyamazane Community Hall in Mpumalanga, Mpumalanga News reports.
The amendments pay the way for the adoption of a driver point’s demerit system.

Once the bill is passed, motorists that continue to break the laws will lose their driving licences through suspensions and cancellations of their driver’s licenses.

All drivers will start with zero points and the maximum permissible number of points is twelve.

A person is allowed to drive until they have twelve points. Every point exceeding the limit results in a three-month suspension of the licence.
Points are allocated to drivers and cars based on infringements and demerit points will be deducted at a rate of one point every three months provided no points have been incurred over that period.

A license is cancelled when it is suspended for the third time. The Bill was referred to the Committee on November 30, 2015 (ATC No. 161-2015), the Committee held public hearings and considered proposed amendments to the Bill. This is why they had to extend the public consultations.