With July 1 now just a day away, details of the planned rollout of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) are still lacking, and it is becoming increasingly urgent for government and the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) to inform the public on exactly what the process will be. The Automobile Association (AA) says too many motorists are in the dark as to what will happen on July 1, if anything, and how the introduction of the system will affect them.
The RTIA is the agency that administers Aarto and will also house the Aarto Appeals Tribunal, which will adjudicate challenges motorists have to infringement notices issued to them.
“We raised concerns earlier this month about the lack of information, and the exact timeframes for the implementation of Aarto. While there has been some reporting on the phased approach which will be followed, this has not been widely communicated to the public by the RTIA. Individuals and businesses are rightly concerned because Aarto will have an impact on them, especially on businesses, as the costs of compliance with the system will be high,” notes the AA.
To address some issues raised by AA members in relation to Aarto, the Association has published an Aarto launch summary on its website for all motorists.
“In October last year we raised our concerns that Aarto does not support government’s stated intention of promoting road safety but that it is instead a more effective mechanism for revenue collection. We raised these and other concerns in our submission on the proposed amendments to the Aarto regulations. Sadly, there has been no clarification on the final Aarto Act, and motorists throughout the country are still unsure of what will happen come July 1,” says the AA.
The AA’s full submission on the proposed amendments to the Aarto regulations is available at https://www.aa.co.za/sites/default/files/aa-full_aarto_submission_october_2020.pdf. The Association’s press statement on the proposed amendments is available at https://aa.co.za/aa-concerned-over-draft-aarto-regulations/.
In a previous statement on the rollout, the AA noted that the last public pronouncement on Aarto had been on May 19, 2021 when the director-general of the department of transport, Alec Moemi, had briefed the National Council of Province’s Select Committee on Transport, Public Service and Administration, Public Works and Infrastructure about the Department of Transport’s annual performance plan.
During that briefing, Moemi said Phase 1 of Aarto would commence on July 1. According to him, this phase entails “setting up the registry and all requirements, ultimately working towards the introduction of a demerit system”. He said there were five phases for the rollout process.
Although the RTIA has clarified that Aarto will be phased in from July 1, there is still too much confusion over the exact timeframes, and when the system will finally be active, according to the AA.
“The introduction of Aarto is a major development for road users in South Africa, and the RTIA and the Department of Transport must do more to inform the public on what is happening. It’s only fair that details of a system that will have such significant impacts on motoring in the country are communicated clearly so everyone knows precisely where they stand in relation to the new rules.”
A podcast on the implications of Aarto is available at https://aa.co.za/connect/.
