Motorists should not think that their previous traffic offences became null and void when the High Court in Pretoria last week ruled that the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act and the Aarto Amendment Act are unconstitutional and invalid.
Stefanie Fick, executive director of the accountability division at Outa, says the ruling is not retrospective.
WATCH: Nuuspod’s Izak du Plessis spoke to Outa’s Stefanie Fick about the recent Aarto court ruling
“Everything remains as is. You can still be prosecuted for your previous traffic offences. The crime cannot simply disappear, so pay your fine if you are guilty of an offence.”
According to Fick the court ruling simply means that the elaborate administrative system that encapsulates Aarto, will have to be reevaluated since it was an infringement on the right of provincial and local governments to enforce the law.
The Pretoria High Court handed down judgment in the matter last week, ending a battle of many years about the implementation of the act.
This, however, is still not the end of the road.
“We have to take the judgment to the Constitutional Court for confirmation within 15 days. It is thus possible that our victory in the High Court could be annulled in the Constitutional Court because the department and the minister can still object to this confirmation,” says Fick. But, she added, they are confident that the court will agree that a national department cannot interfere with law enforcement of traffic regulations and laws the way they have done with Aarto.
Also read: Court ruling that declared Aarto Act invalid will be appealed, says Mbalula
Fick says it would have served government best, had they consulted with them at the beginning of the process, as this would have saved a lot of time and money.
“We have always been part of the Aarto Amendment Act. It is always sad when government and the state departments do not want to listen to civil society.”
Outa has been criticised of acting against good legislation that aims to prevent the carnage on South African roads, because of the court case, but Fick denies this.
“Outa will never attack legislation that intends to stem the fatalities on our roads, but Aarto proved over ten years in Gauteng to have no such effect and that we have to look at other solutions such as educating motorists, to abide by the law.”
According to Fick, government should instead consider other solutions than to implement ineffective legislation.
“One of our biggest problems is that we don’t have enough traffic officers on South African roads. We can have all the laws necessary, but if we don’t have the people to implement them, it will go nowhere,” she says.
