NATIONAL NEWS - The days of casually ignoring traffic fines and hoping government administrative chaos will hide you are coming to an end.

When the Administrative Adjudication of Traffic Offences (Aarto) goes live on 1 December, you’ll no longer have a place to hide.

Motorists and companies face a rude awakening

Traffic legislation expert Doug Warren, whose company SASMiNT has been training companies and fleet managers on the system for some years, warns that “a lot of people and companies” could be in for a big shock in the first few months of next year.

“People are going on holiday in December and they’ll pick up traffic fines from other provinces which, in the past, they’ve effectively been able to ignore.

“From 1 December, 69 municipalities come on to the system, which means the fines will follow you home after the holiday.”

Unlike before, it’s not a good idea to ignore them. If the fine is for speeding, for example, and captured by a traffic camera, you will get a notice electronically within 40 days. 

After 10 more days, that fine is deemed to have been legally served – and you have 32 days in which to pay it. If you do – and you don’t contest it – you will get a 50% discount, says Warren. 

Ignore it, though, and the process goes to the second stage a “courtesy letter”. You then lose your discount and have to pay an additional R100 administration fee.

Ignore that and the third, and final, phase kicks in… an enforcement notice.

Warren says this “is going to change forever how we behave on the roads”.

Penalties for non-compliance will hit drivers hard

Ignore the enforcement notice – even if the fine is as little as R100 – and you’ll find yourself blocked from renewing your vehicle licence or your driving licence.

People who need a professional driving permit, such as truck and other commercial drivers, won’t be able to work until outstanding fines and penalties are settled.

Warren says that once people realise that they are no longer able to drive legally – or could lose their jobs if they don’t have a valid driving document because they’ve accumulated the maximum number of demerit points – “you’ll see people start to change”.

SASMiNT has been running seminars on Aarto across the country and Warren says he is “still surprised by how many people don’t take it seriously”.

“They say things like they’ll fight it in court… but that is costly and there is no guarantee you’ll win.”

From delays to digital enforcement

Aarto, he says, has been in the works for about a decade and should have gone into operation in 2021, but was delayed while the kinks were worked out of the system in Tshwane and Johannesburg.

The realisation that the postal system in South Africa no longer is effective means that Aarto infringement notices will be served via electronic means – either e-mail or message on a cellphone.

These details are already required in most cases to fill in road traffic documents, so there really will be no place to hide.

From April next year, the rest of the country – a further 126 municipalities will be on the system – and the parts of the system will communicate with each other.

For companies, there is much onerous work ahead. Drivers guilty of infringements while driving company vehicles must be “nominated” by the company “proxy” responsible so the “blame can be passed to where it belongs”.

Warren says in the case of commercial or company vehicles which are not roadworthy, the company will be fined along with the driver, making it imperative that systems for inspections of company vehicle be put in place.

Most offences are caught on camera

More than 80% of traffic currently go unpaid – but Aarto is set to drastically change that.

And, although there are fears that roadside bribes of traffic officers could soar as people try to avoid demerit points, the reality is that the majority of road traffic offences are captured by speed and robot cameras.

Warren said it is within the rights of a motorist to refuse to sign a traffic infringement notice issued at the side of a road or a roadblock.

“Provided you have a valid reason, that is your right. Use your phone camera to take any evidence you need and if an officer tries to prevent you from doing that, note it on the Aarto objection form,” he said.

“Once you sign the infringement notice, you are admitting guilt.”

Aarto’s online system for objections requires as much detail as possible, so record every detail you can, he advises.

“If, say, you’re rushing your wife to hospital because she’s having a baby – and you go through red robots and speed – then make sure you have documents to back your case… a letter from the doctor, hospital accounts etc. Then you can make a case.”

Article: Caxton publication, The Citizen

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