Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has described the rollout of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act 4 of 2019 (Aarto), effective July 1, as a milestone and the start of a “season of delivery” for the Department of Transport (DoT).

He says this intervention will deal a decisive blow to road infringements.

The department has allocated R545-million to the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) over the medium term for the Aarto rollout, which will be done in four phases.

The first phase starts on July 1 and will end on September 30 and entails the establishment of seven service outlets and enabling the system to start collecting payments through an Aarto website and mobile application.

Phase 2 will start on October 1 and end on December 31. It includes 67 municipal areas being added to the system and the establishment of 18 more service outlets across all provinces.

Phase 3 will start on January 1, 2022, and end on June 30, 2022, and will involve the remaining 144 municipal areas being added to the system.

Phase 4, starting on July 1, 2022, and ending on July 2, 2023, will see the demerit system taking effect, self-service Aarto kiosks being rolled out and the introduction of a driver rehabilitation programme.

Mbalula explains that the driver rehabilitation programme will need to be undertaken by those drivers who get to a point of having their licences cancelled.

He adds that an Appeals Tribunal is available for appeals to infringements, to reduce the burden on South Africa’s courts.

Aarto intends to address noncompliant behaviour to road traffic laws and reduce the number of road accidents in South Africa; however, it also imposes new obligations on employers – making them face administrative burdens for their employees’ noncompliance.

South Africa is one of the world’s most dangerous countries to drive in. It is listed thirteenth out of 195 countries in the number of road deaths per capita, with a disconcerting 28.2 road deaths per 100 000 people, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Demerit points will be allocated to a driver’s licence for each traffic infringement, which may result in the licence being suspended or cancelled.

Different amounts of demerit points will be allocated for different infringements and everyone starts on zero.

A threshold of 15 demerit points will apply before the licence is suspended; and a driving licence will be suspended for three months for each demerit point above the threshold.

A licence may be suspended twice, following which the licence will be cancelled and the holder will have to apply for a learner’s licence after the cancellation, as well as undergo a driver rehabilitation programme.

EMPLOYER REQUIREMENTS

Aarto requires employers to appoint a proxy to represent company vehicles. The proxy will ultimately be responsible for the coordination and administration of the tracking system and verification of drivers’ licences.

Aarto does not provide that the proxy will lose points on behalf of drivers of company vehicles. However, the proxy must ensure that the demerit points are allocated to the correct driver. Should the proxy not do so, the employer will be liable to pay the fine at three times the value applicable to ordinary licence holders.

Employers must take steps to appoint a proxy and they should also put certain policies and procedures in place to guide the proxy on how to allocate demerit points to the correct driver and consequences if the proxy fails to allocate the points correctly, which may include disciplinary action against the proxy.

In addition to the appointment of a proxy, employers should also take other proactive steps to mitigate any negative impact on their operations because of Aarto.

These include putting measures in place to obtain consent from employees to disclose information on their demerit status; considering the inclusion of new disciplinary offences in disciplinary codes and procedures which cater for the circumstances in which an employee commits serious driving violations during the course and scope of his or her employment, resulting in his or her driver's licence being suspended or cancelled; and implementing awareness campaigns aimed at informing drivers of the key provisions of Aarto.

INDUSTRY CONCERNS
The Road Freight Association (RFA) is among stakeholders that have expressed concern about the implementation of Aarto, saying it is susceptible to fraud, corruption and money laundering.

The association questions whether the RTIA can be trusted with handling billions of rands and adds that the huge administrative resources required for Aarto’s implementation will burden an already overburdened government and private sector.

Instead, the RFA advocates for a properly focused, resourced and proactive road traffic policing system and not a cumbersome and questionable demerit point system.

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) tried the legal route for stopping implementation of Aarto. It believes the legislation unlawfully intrudes upon the exclusive executive and legislative competence of the local and provincial governments envisaged in the Constitution and says Aarto failed spectacularly when it was rolled out in Gauteng ten years ago.

Outa explains that, besides, the start date of the Aarto Bill has not been gazetted, despite the system being signed into law in August 2019.

Other stakeholders such as the Automobile Association have bemoaned the lack of information around Aarto and it believes the system does not promote road safety but rather serves as a mechanism for revenue collection.