The Department of Transport plans to introduce a number of changes pertinent to motorists, and as part of its effort to make the country’s roads safer.<\/p>\n
This includes new rules around drunk driving as well as the official introduction of the country’s demerit system.<\/p>\n
The changes are outlined in more detail below.<\/p>\n
Drunk driving<\/strong><\/p>\n Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula introduced<\/a> <\/strong>the National Road Traffic Amendment Bill to parliament on Friday (29 May).<\/p>\n The bill proposes a host of changes to South Africa’s transport industry – including a new\u00a0zero-tolerance approach<\/strong> to drunk driving.<\/p>\n The bill introduces a total prohibition for the use and consumption of alcohol by all motor vehicle operators on public roads in the country.<\/p>\n It does this by deleting reference to any alcohol content in the blood or breath specimen of drivers on the road.<\/p>\n The National Road Traffic Act (NRA) currently enables those who have consumed alcohol to get behind the wheel provided they are under the blood alcohol limit.<\/p>\n Demerit system<\/strong><\/p>\n On Tuesday (2 June), the Department of Transport announced the delay of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act due to the coronavirus.<\/p>\n The act was signed into law by president Cyril Ramaphosa in August 2019 and although no date was officially promulgated, it was intended<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to take national effect by mid-2020.<\/p>\n It aims to improve driving on the country\u2019s roads through the introduction of a new demerit system for South African drivers.<\/p>\n Depending on the severity of the offence,\u00a0 points are allocated for offences.\u00a0If an infringer passes a points threshold, it will result in the disqualification of the driving licence and three suspensions result in its cancellation.<\/p>\n While the system was expected to be introduced in June, the Department of Transport said that the coronavirus has had a severe impact on the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) – which would be responsible for the new system.<\/p>\n \u201cThe impact of the Covid-19 outbreak has severely compromised the capacity of the RTIA, which is the entity responsible for the rollout of Aarto, as well as other prerequisites determining the rollout date and has resulted in a severe loss of revenue to support the preparatory activities.<\/p>\n \u201cFor this reason, RTIA is in no position at this stage, to successfully conduct the national rollout of Aarto. The situation will be reviewed in due course for further determination as to when the rollout date will be promulgated,” it said.<\/p>\n New licences<\/strong><\/p>\n The Department of Transport plans to introduce updated driver\u2019s licence cards within the next two years.<\/p>\n