AARTO – Love it or hate it, get ready

 Jan du Toit

There were several new developments regarding the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offence Act since our last newsletter and we saw a number of articles in the press almost on a daily basis. AARTO was initially set to roll out nationally on 1 November 2010 and this was published in government gazette notice 33114 on 16 April 2010, but recently retracted by President Jacob Zuma in government gazette notice 33341 on 30 June 2010. This was as a result of pressure by the Cape Metropolitan Council.

The Beeld recently reported that Mr. Collins Letsoalo from the RTMC (Road Traffic Management Corporation) indicated that they are considering two possibilities at this stage. The one is to implement the act nationally from the 1^st of January with demerit points at a later stage or to first implement the administrative part of the act in Durban, Ekurhuleni, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth on the 1^st of January 2011 and then nationally on the 31^st of March 2011. Letsoalo further indicated that they will not entertain the possibility of scrapping the act but would be willing to discuss the contents of the act with AfriForum and Satawu. 

Although this topic 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:

1. Failure to respond 32 days after infringement was served will result in additional costs for courtesy letters and enforcement orders.
2. 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).
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. The drivers’ licenses of employees may be suspended or cancelled as a result of infringements.
7. 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.
   

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.

In order to manage AARTO effectively we suggest that the following measures are introduced in your organization:

1. 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.

Such a person will also be responsible to keep a record of;

• the dates on which documents were received and document sent

• the outcome of representations to the agency (RTIA)

• the status of an infringement (i.e. awaiting receipt or outcome nomination of driver)

• court dates (if elected)

• demerit points allocated to the company, in the case of an operator

• 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.

In our next newsletter we will discuss how documents may be served on an infringer and the confusion associated with the wording of the act in that regard. Until such time, drive safe and don’t wait - book yourself on one of our seminars for early 2011 in order to avoid disappointment.

For booking enquiries please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

For general advice you may contact me, Jan du Toit, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

You may also be interested in the following articles on Aarto
Aarto and Your Business
Employers warned of Aarto pitfalls