Points-demerit system to make roads safer
JOBURG – Road Infringement Agency announces that it will roll out the AARTO points-demerit system in 2015.
The points-demerit system was legislated under Section 24 of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) Act in 2010 and it had to come into effect in 2011, which was moved to 2012 and it still hasn’t been implemented yet, but things could change this year, according to the Road Infringement Agency.
Registrar at the agency Japh Chuwe said, “The Demerit system will be rolled out nationally this year, the exact date will be announced by the minister at a later stage.”
Justice Project South Africa chairperson Howard Dembovsky explained that AARTO is currently in its ‘pilot-phase’ and the points-demerit system associated with it cannot come into effect until AARTO has been rolled out to each and every traffic authority in South Africa.
“The fact is that the AARTO Act and its regulations are in serious need of revamping and until this happens, we will not make any progress on a nationwide rollout. Sadly however, the Minister and Department of Transport have been pussyfooting around this issue forever now and it would seem that enacting E-Tolls and amending other road traffic legislation was more important.”
Dembovsky added that the demerit system is way overdue in the country.
He said, “In my view, a points-demerit system is overdue and the continued putting off that has typified it is nothing short of criminal. Those who oppose the concept of the points-demerit system and AARTO in general have many reasons for doing so, not least of which is that the Criminal Procedure Act is more widely open to abuses of process and that is considered to be a good, not a bad thing by a lot of traffic authorities and municipalities.”
According to AARTO, the demerit system will be fair as every driver will start with zero points and the maximum number of points that a driver can have before he/she will be penalised is 12. If a driver exceeds 12 points, then his/her licence will be suspended for three months and one point is deducted every three months if no further contraventions occur within the three-month period.
“People who are seriously concerned about the road safety should welcome the demerits system as it will get dangerous drivers off the road,” concluded Dembovsky.
