EARLIER this month the National Assembly passed the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Bill, and sent it to President Cyril Ramaphosa to be signed into law. However, Automobile Association (AA) has raised concerns over the Bill’s current form.

The AA said while in principle it supported a demerit system for South African drivers, many of the Bill’s proposed amendments have raised questions over it’s practicality and implementation.

One of the examples the AA presented in its statement was that the provisions around the demerit points appear to be geared more towards revenue collection than dealing with road safety. The demerit for not wearing a seatbelt is the same as driving an unregistered vehicle.

“In our view not wearing a seatbelt should carry a much stiffer monetary punishment and accompanying high value points demerit. If making our roads safer is the objective let’s start here,” the AA said.

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Another concern is the constitutionality of certain amendments, such as the issuing of fines via email.

But by far the most egregious components of the Amendment Bill, according to the AA, relates to the rights of infringers and fleet owners.

“As for fleet owners or managers, the burden the Amendment Bill places on them is immense especially as any demerits earned on these vehicles will go directly against their personal names. This is wholly unfair and, again, does not address what should be a predominant feature of this system: road safety,” says the AA.

Whats’ more, the AA alleges that the piloted roll-out of Aarto in Tshwane and Johannesburg was not implemented properly as only fines and no demerit points were issued. This means amendments to the Aarto Bill are being made without proper testing of system.

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