Road safety experts: Aarto will not save lives

A number of road safety bodies including the AA have said the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act will not help save lives on South Africa’s dangerous roads.

They believe the new law, which includes a licence demerit system, will make it easier for authorities to make money from traffic fines but won’t rid the roads of dangerous drivers without proper enforcement, an area where traffic authorities have failed given the country’s appalling road safety record. South Africa’s road deaths average around 14,000 a year and the cost of road crashes to the economy topped R1-trillion over the past seven years.

The government has been advocating for the demerit system for over two decades, arguing it would curb road deaths in South Africa, but critics aren’t convinced.

“We remain concerned that Aarto will not deliver on its intended outcomes of improving road safety and reducing road carnage on our roads. We stand by our previous views that the Aarto legislation is geared towards revenue collection and not on promoting safer roads,” the AA says.

It was reacting to the Constitutional Court giving Aarto the green light on July 12. The ruling upheld the appeal by the transport minister, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC). It overturned an earlier judgment by the Pretoria high court which dismissed the system as unconstitutional and invalid. It paves the way for the RTIA to roll out the system across the country.

The decision by the Constitutional Court overturned the successful challenge in late 2022 by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) which argued that Aarto legislation stripped local and provincial governments of their right to self regulation.

Under Aarto’s demerit system, motorists will accumulate demerit points for every traffic infringement or offence they commit. If they exceed a certain number of points, their licences or operator cards will be suspended or cancelled

Aarto also allows for electronic service of notices and documents, establishing an appeals tribunal to hear appeals against decisions of the RTIA and removes the option of electing to be tried in court for an infringement.

The AA believes the legislation is cumbersome and impractical, and says the Aarto pilot project introduced in Johannesburg and Tshwane in 2008 underlined its shortcomings.

“Introducing legislation will not solve the country’s road safety crisis. This merely creates an impression of action while nothing will change on the ground, where it is needed.”

The Road Safety Project South Africa (RSP-SA) says it is cautiously optimistic about some aspects of Aarto implementation.

Anything that has the power to improve road safety should be seen as a step in the right direction rather than with negativity, it said, but added one cannot be blinded to the concerns of other stakeholders with regard to potential Aarto pitfalls.

“Arguments against the implementation of Aarto do have merit, yet in the same regard one should not disregard the success point systems have had internationally in positively impacting road safety. A study conducted by the NIH on Italian drivers, found that demerit systems are effective in encouraging drivers to adhere to the law and in increasing road safety. Another published on ResearchGate, found there was a 15 to 20% initial reduction in crashes, fatalities and injuries.”

RSP-SA noted the same study cautioned it will only have limited effectiveness if it is not combined with appropriate law enforcement.

“Thus, while no details have yet been provided on when drivers can expect Aarto to start, in the meantime, government, law enforcement and all other bodies involved in law enforcement must take the time to ensure it does not live up to the reputation it already has as an income producer rather than a means to improve road safety.”

The CEO of advanced driving school MasterDrive, Eugene Herbert, says the efficacy of Aarto in reducing the high fatality rate needs motorists to have faith in the act.

“Even before the high court overturned Aarto, the public had little faith in it. There are concerns there is too much opportunity for corruption to creep into the system and too many instances where additional fees make the demerit system more of an income generator than a road safety strategy,” he said.

“Additionally, businesses perceive Aarto as a potential administrative headache. It has extensive administrative burdens associated with it in an environment where organisations are already weighed down by legislative requirements. Consequently, in light of these concerns, Aarto is already off to a bad start in gaining public support.”

Herbert called on drivers to take personal responsibility for road safety. As much as drivers are concerned about corruption, they are also the most effective means of preventing it, he said.

“If there are no drivers to participate in the corruption, then there is limited opportunity for it to occur.”

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