Driving licence points demerit system still ‘a long way off’

Implementation of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act and the Aarto Amendment Act, including the introduction of driving licence demerit points for road traffic infringements, appears to still be a long way off.

The Department of Transport (DoT) initially planned to have Aarto fully implemented by July 2024, but the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) has confirmed to Moneyweb that a number of issues still need to be finalised before the controversial system can be fully implemented.

RTIA spokesperson Monde Mkalipi said the RTIA is currently engaging the DoT to finalise documentation for the proclamation of the Aarto Amendment Act.

“Once all the requirements have been met, the Department of Transport will approach the Presidency to advance for the proclamation of the Aarto Amendment Act, which will lead to the gazetting of the date for national implementation of Aarto.

“Since 2008, certain provisions of the Aarto Act have been effective only in Tshwane and Joburg,” he added.

ALSO READ: Aarto demerit points system to be implemented by mid-2025 – Nada

Delays ‘not surprising’

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) CEO Wayne Duvenage said on Sunday it sounds like the DoT is still a long way off from where it said it would be by now, which is not surprising.

Duvenage said that shortly after the Constitutional Court ruling that enabled the RTIA to proceed with the scheme almost 18 months ago, then transport minister Fikile Mbalula said “the days of traffic offenders are numbered” and emphasised that the system would be rolled out nationwide without delay.

“Outa knew this was not possible, as the scheme faced many administrative challenges, which is still the case to this day,” said Duvenage.

“There are a number of municipalities, including the City of Cape Town, who will not simply hand over their traffic fine management to the RTIA, and rightly so.

“The RTIA must now find a way to accommodate them and be flexible in their systems, to ensure the demerit point system is fairly introduced across the country.”

Duvenage added that from the responses Moneyweb had obtained from the RTIA, the agency “is clearly still a long way off from being able to fully implement the system, which they once believed could be done within a year of being allowed to do so”.

“This current situation reiterates our concerns that it will fail over time,” said Duvenage, “merely because it is far too administratively cumbersome, which will render it impossible to manage when the burden of thousands of challenges and queries against the fines processed over time, begin to emerge.

“We have always said the demerit point system is a good one,” he added.

“But it can only happen in government environments where complex systems of this nature are implementable and manageable. Unfortunately this is not the case with Aarto.”

ALSO READ: Aarto implementation could result in municipal traffic services ‘shutting down’

Skewed motivation and ‘unintended consequences’

Automobile Association (AA) spokesperson Layton Beard previously told Moneyweb the association’s view is that Aarto legislation is geared towards revenue collection and not towards promoting safer roads.

Beard said another big issue the AA has raised is that “you can’t have a tribunal of nine people who have to look at all of these millions of [appeal] applications”.

“The system is not going to cope. It’s going to fall over in a week,” he said.

“Aarto has been in the works for 20 years. It remains to be seen when this thing is going to see the light of day.”

The South African Local Government Association (Salga) earlier this year voiced its concerns about “unintended consequences” on municipalities from the implementation of the Aarto system.

Salga said this included removing the adjudication function of traffic fines to the national government and highlighted that municipalities would receive only 9% of the national revenue when they perform over 50% of the functions.

“This puts pressure on municipal finances and their financial sustainability,” it said.

ALSO READ: RTIA says Aarto Act implementation will increase municipalities’ income

Legal challenges blamed for delay

Mkalipi said the implementation Aarto has been delayed by legal challenges characterised by, among other things, the Gauteng High Court ruling of 2022 that declared Aarto unconstitutional.

This is a reference to the July 2023 Constitutional Court judgment unanimously overturning a Pretoria High Court judgment that declared the act and the amendment act unconstitutional and invalid.

Mkalipi said such hurdles delayed the finalisation of the regulations and appointment of the members of the Aarto Appeals Tribunal and even stalled the compilation of the documentation for the draft proclamation as all stakeholders paused on all forms of engagement pending the Constitutional Court decision.

He added that the Aarto Master Implementation Plan, which is the roadmap towards the Aarto national rollout, had to be deferred due to these major legal challenges.

ALSO READ: For Aarto to work, stop licence fraud

‘Phased rollout’ happening …

Mkalipi said the Constitutional Court ruling of 12 July 2023 signalled the resumption and review of all plans for the Aarto rollout.

He added that implementation of the phased rollout is currently underway as the RTIA is engaging the DoT to package documentation for the proclamation of the Aarto Amendment Act.

He said:

• Phase One, which saw the establishment of 40 Aarto service outlets, is ongoing;
• Finalisation of the draft regulations is underway;
• Aarto education and community awareness are ongoing across the country; and
• Technical support to issuing authorities in the form of the provision of computer equipment is underway.

“Working with the RTMC [Road Traffic Management Corporation], all issuing authorities are carrying out Aarto related updates to the connectivity to the eNatis and concurrence on the rollout was received from all Transport Provincial MECs.

“RTIA, together with partners, is ready to rollout Aarto as soon as the Aarto Amendment Act has been proclaimed,” he added.

ALSO READ: Court misconstrued Aarto Act when declaring it unconstitutional, says RTMC

Points demerit system

Mkalipi said the rollout of Aarto will be done in phases and the driving licence points demerit system will form part of Phase 4, when all issuing authorities are part of the Aarto process.

“The points demerit system is part of the provisions contained in the Aarto Amendment Act, which was assented into law by the President in 2019.

“The pending proclamation of the Aarto Amendment Act will signal the implementation of the points demerit system, together with the electronic service of Aarto documents and the introduction of the Aarto rehabilitation programme for habitual infringers,” he said.

Phase 1 includes the provision of infrastructure to issuing authorities to improve connectivity to the National Traffic Information System (Natis) by all  213 issuing authorities; finalisation of the draft Aarto regulations; training of traffic officers; and the setting up of Aarto service outlets countrywide.

Phase 2 includes the introduction of Aarto in 69 municipalities, while it will be introduced to the remaining 144 municipalities in Phase 3, with the demerit system and rehabilitation programme only scheduled to be implemented in Phase 4.

ALSO READ: Like it or not, demerit points are coming

Cart before the horse?

Moneyweb asked the RTIA how motorists who have been issued with an infringement notice in terms of the Aarto Act are supposed to appeal them as there is currently no functioning Aarto Appeals Tribunal.

Mkalipi said the process to nominate the Appeals Tribunal has been completed and the list of nominated members shall be published in the Government Gazette.

He added that the principal Aarto Act is still in effect, which guarantees infringers access to all Aarto elective options.

These include:

• A 50% discount on payment of Aarto infringements within the first 32 days;
• Submission of a representation to dispute an Aarto infringement;
• Nomination of the driver in control of the vehicle;
• Request to pay in instalments;
• Application for revocation of an enforcement order;
• Infringers electing to be tried in court.

“In essence, road users who wish to dispute the outcome of the Aarto process, still have a full right to approach the courts for review,” he said.

This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.