Although AARTO has received much coverage in the media very few employers, employees and fleet operators are aware of the consequences of this act. Regardless of whether you love or hate this act, the reality is that if you misbehave on the roads your licence may be suspended or even cancelled and your fleet could be halted if you are an operator as contemplated in section 265 of the National Road Traffic Act. The AARTO Act is an administrative process that occasionally leans toward the Criminal Procedures Act 51 of 1977. You would therefore only on certain occasions see the inside of a court or speak to a public prosecutor and unfortunately admission of guilt fines will not be accepted, you may plead guilty and pay the whole fine if you have elected to appear in court.
Some of the consequences of the act are:
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Failure to respond 32 days after infringement was served will result in additional costs for courtesy letters and enforcement orders.
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Should the employer fail to keep record of the driver of a vehicle and cannot nominate the driver, the employer will pay the fine at three times the value applicable to ordinary license holders (not operators).
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The employer could receive a hefty fine or be imprisoned for a year for failing to keep record of the details of drivers authorized to use the vehicles of the employer.
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Should the employer / owner of a vehicle fail to adhere to the requirements of an enforcement order, it will lead to a warrant of execution which could see the movable property of the owner of the vehicle sold at an auction. Further to this the applicable vehicle will be immobilized and no further licenses or operator cards will be issued until such time that the fine has been paid, including all the legal fees.
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Offences under section 49 of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 (applicable to operators as defined in the act) will result in demerit points recorded against the operator and if a specific number of demerit points have been exceeded, the operator may not operate any of his / her vehicles on our roads.
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The drivers’ licenses of employees may be suspended or cancelled as a result of infringements.
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Failing to verify the status of the demerit points recorded against the name of an employee / driver could result in a driver illegally driving a vehicle, which could have far reaching implications in terms of third party liability and the insurance of the vehicle.
In order to manage AARTO effectively we suggest that the following measures are introduced in your organization:
Depending on the size and nature of the organization, appoint a person in the company responsible for the coordination and administration relating to AARTO. Having said this it is advisable to wait until we have an official date of national implementation before appointing addition personnel.
1. Such a person will also be responsible to keep a record of;
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the dates on which documents were received and document sent
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the outcome of representations to the agency (RTIA)
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the status of an infringement (i.e. awaiting receipt or outcome nomination of driver)
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court dates (if elected)
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demerit points allocated to the company, in the case of an operator
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verification of demerit points allocated to a particular driver
2. Implement proper record keeping measures such as log books and the written particulars of drivers.
3. The regular verification of the demerit points recorded against the name of an employee / driver (as soon as demerit points become applicable).
4. Implement and enforce strict policies and procedures. Make changes to the disciplinary code of the company and employment contracts.
5. Verify the demerit points of applicants (not only limited to “drivers”, ANY person that must drive a company vehicle).
6. It is recommended that employers should very regularly collect mail from the post office in order to nominate the driver of the vehicle (or to qualify for the 50% discount) within 32 days after service of an infringement notice.
As a result of the above we recommend that companies in advance start to plan and attend one of our AARTO seminars focusing specifically on the administrative process, the documents that must be used, timeframes applicable, implications for company proxy’s, demerit points applicable on individuals, demerit points for each of the operator vehicles in a fleet and the demerit points for the whole fleet of an operator. Besides this we also focus on the extremely important and much underestimated employment relationship with the driver as a result of AARTO. Part of the course material is a detailed AARTO policy that may be used in order to effectively manage the human recourses part of your fleet.
