Motoring

Incoming rules to impact people who drive for a living in South Africa

Staff Writer

 ·9 Nov 2021

The introduction of the new Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) system in the coming months will have a significant impact on anyone who drives for a living in South Africa.

The Aarto system, which is set to be fully introduced by July 2022, will penalise drivers and fleet operators found guilty of traffic offences or infringements by imposing demerit points that could lead to the suspension or cancellation of licences, professional driving permits or operator cards.

In a webinar on Tuesday (9 November), Upskill Academy and the Road Traffic Infringement Agency noted that the new system is not all doom and gloom, but that companies that don’t update their policies and train their staff in the new system will be affected negatively.

Upskill Academy said that some of the key benefits of the new Aarto rules include:

• Companies can access traffic fines nationally on one system and will no longer have to contact different municipalities to see where fines have been given;
• A 50% automatic discount for a fine is available if dealt with timeously;
• Business owners and fleet managers can submit elective options electronically, which will reduce time spent standing in queues at court;
• Drivers will be safer and more responsible while driving.

Risks

However, Upskill Academy warned that there are a number of risks for companies and drivers who fail to follow the system properly.

Notably, the group said that the new system will allocate demerit points to a proxy driver’s licence in the case of companies and fleets. This means that a business owner or fleet manager could have their own proxy licence suspended if drivers accumulate enough points. If the system is followed properly, all fines should be allocated to the responsible driver, it said.

Similarly, the group warned that vehicles in a fleet can also receive demerit points and can receive suspensions, so companies need to track which vehicles have which points so that they do not get taken off the road and lose revenue.

Upskill Academy also warned that if a company does not follow the system properly it could impact their insurance in the case of accidents.

“If a company does not use the system properly, and a driver has an accident with a suspended or cancelled licence an insurer won’t payout for the claim. A driver also cannot be held responsible if it is found that a company did not train the driver on the new Aarto rules properly,” it said.

Phased rollout

Phase 1 of the Aarto, which ran from July to September 2021, has seen the RTIA increase its national footprint by implementing seven service outlets and online services such as the Aarto website and deployment of the Aarto mobile application.

Phase 2 of the project, which will run between October and December 2021, will see the Aarto come online in 67 local and metropolitan municipal areas, the agency said.

The agency said that the project is still on track for all four phases, with the new points demerit system and driver rehabilitation programme going live on 1 July 2022.

A further breakdown of the different phases can be found below:

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