'Aarto must be scrapped'

Calls to scrap the troublesome Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (AARTO) system are increasing.

Western Cape transport MEC Robin Carlisle last week added his voice, saying Aarto should be completely binned.

He said the system is under dysfunctional and incompetent management.

"Two years ago, I stated categorically that Aarto will not be implemented in this province and that, if necessary, we would oppose its imposition in court. I have raised this matter in many meetings with the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and formally requested the national minister of transport to scrap both Aarto and the RTMC as a matter of urgency."

With the Aarto system, drivers earn demerit points when they commit traffic offences, and this will be reflected on the National Contravention Register on eNatis. After 12 demerits are gained, a driver's licence will be suspended. Pilot projects are being run in Johannesburg and Pretoria.

The system has suffered several issues since the inception of the pilots, from procedural errors to programming flaws in the software.

"The initial implementation of Aarto in Tshwane and Johannesburg was a disaster, and the post-mortem ordered by the minister has still not been published," said Carlisle.

Justice Project of SA national chairman Howard Dembovsky previously said SA urgently needs a functional and procedurally fair points-demerit system to get motorists to take traffic offences seriously. "But if the current custodians of Aarto continue to act as they are acting, I can assure you that Aarto will be an unmitigated disaster of epic proportion for SA."

Carlisle also conceded that the principles of adjudicative management of certain road offences, as well as the institution of a driver's licence demerit system, have considerable merit.

However, he said the administering entities have made a "complete hash" of this system and are now subsequently without resources.

"To implement Aarto in its present form will seriously impair our country's already poorly functioning road safety systems. We need to get back to the basics of safe roads, safe drivers, safe speeds and safe cars, and keep the focus firmly on changing behaviour and attitudes towards safe and responsible road use."

The Automobile Association (AA) last week said the e-tolling battle has made it easy to forget about Aarto.

"Aarto was hailed as one of the government's major weapons in reducing accident levels on South African roads. Unfortunately, however, it's becoming another example of the idea being better than the implementation."

The association explained that the demerit system was established for law enforcement officers to deal effectively and quickly with infringements of road rules. It also aims to alleviate the pressure on the courts by penalising drivers and operators who are guilty of infringements. The system was also designed to reward law-abiding behaviour by reducing demerit points if no offences are committed over a specific period.

"Essentially, Aarto was designed to improve safer driving behaviour and encourage compliance with the law in an attempt to reduce accidents and deaths on our roads," says Gary Ronald, head of public affairs at the AA.

"Unfortunately, it has not turned out this way. The system, tested as a pilot project in Johannesburg, has failed so badly that none of the other provinces want this to be rolled out nationally."

He adds that the root of the problem is the ineffectiveness of the people who are meant to enforce Aarto.

Ronald believes that, in theory, the law is well-researched and has been well-implemented in other countries. In practice, though, it has fallen short of achieving its goals locally. "It is time the South African government scrapped this and went back to the basics."