By Staff Reporter
The Road Freight Association (RFA) has warned that the expansion of AARTO could clog the appeals system, place new pressure on licensing authorities and disrupt fleet operations if the system is not simplified and refocused.
The association said that while it supported measures to improve road safety, the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences system remained too broad, too complex, and too administratively demanding.
The warning comes after the government said AARTO Phase 2 would proceed from 1 July across 62 local and metropolitan municipalities, building on the earlier implementation in Johannesburg and Tshwane.
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AARTO is an administrative traffic-offence enforcement system that is expected to introduce demerit points in a later phase, including penalties that could lead to the suspension of driving licences and operator cards.
RFA chief executive Gavin Kelly said the association had commented on the structure and nature of AARTO since the first version of the Act in 1998.
“The intentions are noble – but the scope is too vast and the structure and processes far too intricate,” Kelly said.
“From the beginning, the Association has said, make it simpler, make it focused, and make it accessible.”
Kelly said the RFA was serious about improved road safety, more efficient logistics, and reducing the financial strain that road crashes place on the country’s medical infrastructure.
He said the main contributors to road crashes should be identified and prioritised so that the causes of injuries and deaths could be addressed through a focused effort to change behaviour.
“The RFA reiterates that the major contributors to incidents on the roads must be identified and clearly prioritised – so that the causes for these incidents (crashes) that result in injuries and death can be addressed through a concerted effort to change behaviour,” Kelly said.
He said successful road-safety interventions elsewhere had focused on targeted programmes to modify dangerous conduct.
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However, Kelly said AARTO contained “serious flaws” that would “negatively affect the efficacy of the intended system as well as create huge operational challenges regarding vehicles – which will result in negative effects to the financial and operational sustainability of road freight businesses in South Africa”.
A key concern, Kelly said, was the creation of a single appeals tribunal.
He said reports showed that 1,823,040 infringements were issued in Tshwane and Johannesburg alone during the 2024 calendar year. If 10% of those infringements were appealed, about 180,000 cases would have to be heard by the tribunal.
“A simple calculation suggests that they will have to hear approximately 850 appeals per day. This will create a bottleneck in the system,” Kelly said.
“What about all the infringements issued across the whole country (when in operation)? How will the Tribunal cope?”
Kelly said the appeals process would require documents to be handed in, stamped, signed and returned to infringers by local licensing departments or issuing authorities, which were already under pressure from vehicle and driver licensing work.
“These additional AARTO responsibilities will create longer queues and more pressure at these centres,” he said.
Kelly said local authorities and municipalities would have to absorb additional duties under AARTO, raising questions about whether they had sufficient capacity and budgets.
“The question to be asked is whether these centres will be able to cope with this additional burden and whether all the local authorities and municipalities are aware of the additional duties that AARTO will require and whether they have budgeted sufficiently for these services.”
He also questioned whether part-time tribunal members would be able to deal with the expected workload.
“[L]egislation requires the Tribunal to be appointed when the legislation is enacted. Where is the Tribunal?” Kelly said.
Demerit points
The RFA also repeated its opposition to the allocation of demerit points to vehicles, saying the system should focus on whether a vehicle is roadworthy rather than attaching points to it.
“Nowhere else in the world do vehicles get demerit points to ‘change behaviour’ – a vehicle is either roadworthy and fit to be used on a public road, or not,” Kelly said.
He said the current system already allowed an unroadworthy vehicle to be suspended from use until it was repaired, inspected and passed as roadworthy.
Kelly said vehicle demerit points could also affect the resale, trade and replacement of vehicles, with consequences for private motorists, fleet operators, rental companies and commercial transport businesses.
“The effect of points allocated to vehicles will result in stalling / refusal of sales (or vastly reduced valuation of vehicles/delay in fleet replacement/ability to trade vehicles),” he said.
He said this could have a major impact on companies that depend on fleet cycles, leasing arrangements and operational vehicle demand.
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Kelly said the representation process under AARTO was also time-consuming, heavily administrative and dependent on authorities providing information and feedback within prescribed time frames.
He said companies that unsuccessfully challenged infringements would lose the benefit of discounts and would have to pay the full penalty and applicable fees.
“Penalty levies are a revenue generation process – nothing more, nothing less,” Kelly said.
He said exceeding the number of demerit points for a vehicle could result in the suspension or cancellation of the operator card for that vehicle. He said the National Road Traffic Act also prevented a new operator card from being issued to an operator while any vehicle operator card was suspended.
“The Association cannot say it loudly enough, or repeat it enough times – scrap points on vehicles,” Kelly said.
He said the effect of a demerit system on drivers was particularly concerning in a country without a reliable alternative public transport network.
“In all other countries across the globe where a demerit point system is in place – and is successful in having a positive impact on driver behaviour – a reliable, efficient and developed public transport service is in place,” Kelly said.
Kelly said AARTO should focus on the most serious behavioural causes of crashes instead of trying to police and administer thousands of infringements.
“Having thousands of infringements / offences that are to be policed and administratively dealt with is too far a stretch,” he said.
“Most other countries have between 15 and 30 behavioural causes that are focused on. Results there speak for themselves. They are far simpler systems, with manageable processes and measurable results. More importantly – with positive change in the identified areas.”
“It’s time to radically rethink the way in which AARTO needs to be focussed and applied,” Kelly said.
