Demerit points system to root out traffic violators
According to Emmanuel Tshehla of the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) which manages South Africa's road safety and driver compliance – a reduction in traffic violations will automatically also result in reduction of road crashes, injuries and fatalities.
The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto), which seeks to encourage compliance with traffic laws, will penalise habitual road infringers through a demerit points system.
The Aarto Act, 1998, and the Aarto Amendment Act, 2019 will be rolled out nationally in four phases between July 2021 and July 2022.
Phase one – July 1 and September 30 2021: Seven Aarto service outlets will be established nationally, the eNATIS will be enabled to collect Aarto payments, and will include a communications campaign to educate motorists on the system.
Phase 2 – October 1 to December 31 2021: Sixty seven local metropolitan authorities will ‘come online’ for Aarto processing, the adjudication process and Appeals Tribunal will start functioning, 18 more Aarto service outlets will be established.
Phase 3 – January 1 to June 30 2022:Some 144 more municipal areas will be added to the Aarto system.
Phase 4 – July 1 2022 onwards: This will see the introduction of the points demerit system as well as the rehabilitation programme for repeat offenders which serves as the backbone of Aarto.
According to Emmanuel Tshehla of the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) which manages South Africa’s road safety and driver compliance – a reduction in traffic violations will automatically also result in reduction of road crashes, injuries and fatalities.
RTIA which is an arm of government to roll-out Aarto is in the process of preparing law enforcement agencies to be ready for the implementation of the legislation.
“The demerit points will easily identify and punish habitual infringers and remove reckless drivers from the road. That, in itself will positively contribute to an increase in road safety,” he added
The demerit points will be allocated to both drivers and vehicles and the system will only become applicable once Aarto is rolled out nationally. The demerit points will act as a punitive measure for habitual offenders and is key to discourage drivers to transgress.
All motorists will start at zero once the points demerit system is implemented.
“The demerit points will be accumulated if the motorist commits traffic violations. Similarly, when one does not commit any further violations, they will be rewarded with a reduction of one point every three months if they have demerit points. When one is back at zero points, there is no further reward because they are displaying good behaviour,” explained Mr Tshehla.
For example: For driving under the influence an infringer will be arrested and allocated six demerit points; reckless driving will result in an arrest and six demerit points; for using a cellphone whilst driving one will be fined R500 and accumulate one demerit point.
“In practical terms the infringer will be able to redeem all the points in a period of three years. As long as one is not over the 15 demerit threshold, they will be able to drive. When one is above 15 demerit points, the driving licence gets suspended for three months for every point over 15, said Mr Tshehla.
However, the Amendment Act has introduced rehabilitation programmes, which the infringer can utilise to redeem their demerit points at an accelerated rate than one would ordinarily.
For a full list of categorised demeritable infringements visit www.aarto.gov.za.
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