Minister of Transport, Blade Nzimande, has welcomed the passing of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Bill by the Portfolio Committee on Transport.<\/p>\n
Nzimande said that the bill will now go to the National Assembly for concurrence before being signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n
“As a country, we are experiencing an average of just under 14,000 deaths per annum, which equates to about 38 people every single day, who lose their lives on our roads,” said Nzimande.<\/p>\n
He added that the implementation of the Aarto bill is amongst the critical interventions to reduce these fatalities and save lives on our roads.<\/p>\n
“Through Aarto, we are putting in place an effective, efficient and streamlined system that will take routine traffic offences out of the over-stretched court system and create incentives that increases compliance to road traffic laws.”<\/p>\n
Changes<\/strong><\/p>\n Nzimande said that under the new bill, fines and penalties will be standardised for all traffic violations and will give effect to the points demerit system.<\/p>\n “It will be for the first time that government brings certainty and effective mechanism to ensure that persistent offenders are taken off the road through license suspension\/removal or loss of the operators\u2019 licences,” he said.<\/p>\n “The system brings with it improved fine collection procedures and a revenue stream that will be used for improving road safety; as well as more convenient ways of paying fines.”<\/p>\n Nzimande said that Aarto will also enable government to:<\/p>\n\n
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