{"id":458944,"date":"2021-01-10T15:00:08","date_gmt":"2021-01-10T13:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=458944"},"modified":"2021-01-10T15:00:50","modified_gmt":"2021-01-10T13:00:50","slug":"south-africas-strict-new-driving-laws-planned-for-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/458944\/south-africas-strict-new-driving-laws-planned-for-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s strict new driving laws planned for this year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The new Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act is expected to be formally introduced in 2021, along with the country&#8217;s new demerit system.<\/p>\n<p>In October, Transport minister Fikile Mbalula <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.greengazette.co.za\/notices\/administrative-adjudication-of-road-traffic-offences-act-46-1998-as-amended-amendment-of-administrative-adjudication-of-road-traffic-offences-regulations-2008_20201002-GGN-43758-01049\">gazetted<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>the latest draft of the Aarto regulations, detailing how the country\u2019s new demerit system will work.<\/p>\n<p>The 540-page directive states that the Aarto Act is due for a national roll-out on <strong>1 July 2021<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Following this, the allocation of demerit points will be introduced in\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/437979\/new-driving-rules-for-south-africa-in-2021-what-you-need-to-know\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three phases<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to ensure road users are gradually introduced to the implications of the demerit point system.<\/p>\n<p>The Aarto Act provides for a system whereby a person, operator or company (juristic person)\u00a0pays the penalty and incur points when a traffic infringement is committed.<\/p>\n<p>The demerit points are allocated to the operators and owners of motor vehicles. If a vehicle is suspended it may not be sold or used on a public road.<\/p>\n<p>If an operator or juristic person does sell a vehicle or scrap or export such vehicle, the demerit points will remain against the record of the operator\/juristic person and be allocated to the next vehicle the company purchases.<\/p>\n<p>However, vehicles are not punished by the system \u2013 only the driver\/juristic person is held responsible for the use of its vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>The points will work as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The offender\/infringer receives a penalty, and in addition to the penalty, they also receive the demerit points allocated to the specific offence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>If the demerit points exceed the maximum points (15 points), a person will be disqualified from driving or using the vehicle for a period of time (three months for every point exceeding 15 points);<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The points for the offences and infringements range between six and one;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The maximum for a person or operator card or a licence disc for a juristic person who is not an operator is 15 points;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The maximum for a learner driver is six points;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The time value of each point is three months for disqualification or reduction purposes;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>If demerit points are allocated to a person or vehicle record and no further demerit points are accrued in three months after receiving the previous demerit point, a reduction of one point on the total number of demerit points will be recorded on the system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A person\u2019s driving licence card and the operator card of a motor vehicle must be handed in for the disqualification period;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Upon a third disqualification, the licences will be cancelled. A person must apply for a new learner\u2019s licence and driving licence once the disqualification period is over.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/453802\/what-to-expect-from-car-sales-in-south-africa-in-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What to expect from car sales in South Africa in 2021<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act is expected to be formally introduced in 2021, along with the country&#8217;s new demerit system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":299672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-458944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":458948,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458944\/revisions\/458948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}