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Jan du Toit
There were no significant new developments regarding the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offence Act since our last newsletter, except the statement by Mr. Collins Letsoalo from the RTMC (Road Traffic Management Corporation), indicating that the national implementation date will now be 1 April 2011. This must however still be officially published. The South African National Road Agency Limited (SANRAL) in the meantime indicated that it could cost motorists that travel between Pretoria and Johannesburg up to R1050 per month to make use of the upgraded roads.
Toll road usage will be recorded electronically and the relevant fees will be deducted from registered motorist’s accounts. Motorists that failed to register for such a service and used a toll road without the necessary electronic verification and billing devices will receive invoices by mail. The last recorded address on eNATIS of the owner of the vehicle will be used for this purpose. The invoice will be converted to an AARTO infringement if the owner does not pay the invoice within 30 days after it was served.
The catch is that that the toll fees as well as a penalty amount will become payable if the invoice is not settled within the allowed 30 days. As per the current Schedule 3 of the AARTO Regulations, the fine for failing to pay for the use of a toll road is R250. This may however change in future and we may even see a prison sentence of up to 6 months associated with such an offence (as Transport Law Enforcement and Related General Matters Amendment Bill, 2010: Publication for comments - Gazette No. 33027 – Notice 245).
From the above it is clear that the collection of toll fees alone could become cumbersome for companies and we recommend that companies in advance start to plan and attend one of our AARTO seminars. This course focuses specifically on the AARTO administrative process such as 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.
In addition to the above 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.
A policy will be of utmost importance in order to effectively;
- address the obligations and risks as a vehicle owner under this Act;
- manage the behaviour of employees authorized to operate (any) company owned vehicle;
- deal with employees “incapacitated” as a result of exceeding the maximum permissible amount of demerit points allowed under the Act.
Demerit points:
Under the AARTO Act a licence holder will accumulate demerit points for certain infringements (road traffic related offences). The demerit points that a driver incurs are reflected on the National Contravention Register and are recorded when;
- The infringer pays the fine.
- Partially pays the fine.
- Infringer applies to pay the fine in instalments.
- The payment of the infringer is dishonoured (rejected debit order).
- The infringer elected to be tried in court and was unsuccessful in proving his case or an appeal is upheld.
- The infringer did not pay the fine within a period of 32 days after the enforcement order was served.
If a person incurs demerit points which, when added to the points previously recorded against that person in the national contraventions register, exceed 12 points that person is disqualified from driving or operating a motor vehicle. The licence of a driver is suspended for a period of 3 months for each demerit point above 12. If the licence holder already has 12 demerit points and a further 2 demerit points are allocated for i.e. failure to comply with the directions conveyed on a road traffic sign at a scholar patrol, then the licence of that driver shall be suspended for a period of 6 months (12 Points plus 2 = 14 – 12 points = 2 above 12 x 3 months = 6 months suspension).
1 Demerit point is deducted for every 3 months that the driver does not incur any additional demerit points. Operators will also incur demerit points that, if exceeded, will result in the suspension of all the operator cards issued to the operator. Each vehicle of the operator is allowed a maximum of 12 demerit points and if exceeded will result in the suspension of the operator card of that vehicle for a period of three months. Employers will have to plan ahead and decide how they will manage the risks associated with AARTO Act as well as the potential consequences of “incapacitated” drivers as a result of the cancellation or suspension of their licences.
For more information contact
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Our next public AARTO courses are scheduled for 16 March 2011 at the Southern Sun - OR Tambo and 1 April 2011 at the Southern Sun North Beach.
Click here for more information on the AARTO workshop
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