Municipalities are now realising the cost and difficulties of implementing the controversial AARTO system, as a recent report from the Swellendam municipal council indicates. It warns that the diversion of traffic fine funds to the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) could mean the end of municipal traffic services.   

Municipalities are starting to do the maths, at the same time acknowledging the many challenges of implementing the contentious AARTO system, something OUTA warned will happen. The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act (AARTO) – for years limited to Gauteng – was expanded countrywide through the AARTO Amendment Act. It will introduce a demerit points system and traffic fines revenue will be diverted to the RTIA. 

On paper AARTO may look like the silver bullet that will improve road safety, but OUTA repeatedly warned about its bureaucratic inefficiencies and revenue-focused nature. We raised several significant concerns about the AARTO Amendment Act through submissions to Parliament, and eventually challenged it in court, but it was upheld by the Constitutional Court. It is still unclear exactly when the law will take effect since President Cyril Ramaphosa has not yet gazetted an official date. 

But it seems municipalities are starting to do the maths, realising the potential negative impact it could have on their budgets. The Swellendam report anticipates implementation by the 1st of July and warned of significant revenue losses for municipalities like Swellendam, with estimates reaching up to R7 million per year. 

OUTA expects more and more municipalities will come to the same conclusion, and we want to reiterate that – just like with e-tolls – Government should know by now that merely making a new law doesn’t make it rational or workable. People won’t simply comply because Government announced new laws and regulations. Irrational or impractical laws and a lack of transparency results in pushback from society, making systems ungovernable. When a government cannot effectively enforce its own laws and policies, people lose trust in them and simply start ignoring the laws, something we are seeing all around us in SA.  

You can read more about this here.