AARTO, a new way of processing traffic fines, has been signed into law and is set to be rolled out countrywide. The regulations have been published and, as required by law, members of the public are invited to provide comment, input or objections.
The draft regulations are a complete rewrite of the existing regulations.
11401 participants – closed 1 December.
Have your say – shape the regulations.
Some notable points about the draft regulations are:
- Removing an alleged infringer’s existing right to elect to be tried in court and replacing it with written representations, a Tribunal and eventually, an appeal or review application to the Magistrates Court.
- Increasing the number of demerit points which may be incurred before a driving licence or operator card may be suspended from 12 to 15 and introducing demerit points on the licence discs of vehicles belonging to companies that are not operators.
- Doubling the penalties (fines) which are currently payable.
- Doubling the fines for failing to pay e-toll and regular toll roads while removing the demerit points from them.
- Making it a criminal offence to drive if a driver does not possess a driving licence.
- Correcting the previous misinformation regarding the rehabilitation programme which only becomes applicable once a person’s driving licence has been cancelled.
NEED MORE INFO?
Visit our AARTO website for a detailed explanation and a searchable list of the new charge codes as listed in the draft schedule 3.
SUMMARY
Originally passed into law in 1998, the AARTO Act has been in force for more than eleven years in the jurisdictions of the Metropolitan Municipalities of Tshwane (from 1 July 2008) and Johannesburg (from 1 November 2008).
It is now scheduled to be implemented nationally.
Included herein are Explanatory Memorandums – which have no legal effect but are meant to assist the members of the public in understanding the draft AARTO regulations and Schedule 3 on the demerit point and penalties and are for information purposes only:
Memorandum 1– Draft AARTO Regulations and
Memorandum 2 – Draft Schedule 3 – Demerit points and Penalties.
IN THE MEDIA
- [listen] ChaiFM – New Blue Review with Benji Shulman (Rob Hutchinson as guest)
- BusinessTech – New driving rules for South Africa in 2021 – what you need to know
- BusinessTech – South Africa’s new driving rules are coming – here’s what you will get demerit points for
- The South African – AARTO: Here’s what you need to know about South Africa’s new traffic laws
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