GARDEN ROUTE NEWS - A year after the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Bill was officially signed off by the National Assembly in March 2018, we are still waiting for the president to sign the bill into law.

The Aarto Bill, first tabled in 2015, first reared its head in public in 2016, when the call was put out to the public to comment on the changes, which many felt were controversial. 

Four years later, it is now on the verge of being signed into law and subsequently transforming the way South Africans are fined, the way they receive their fines, and even the way they lose their licences.

'Infringement' instead of 'offence'
If the Aarto bill were to be signed into law by the president, a driver would start off with a benchmark total of 12 points according to Pat Curran, a traffic official in the directorate of traffic law enforcement in the Western Cape. A driver can then be docked between 1 and 6 points for transgressing the law, which will become known as a traffic infringement instead of a traffic offence, according to Curran.

When your points total reaches zero, then a three-month period begins wherein you have the chance to get in the system's good graces. If in this three-month period you don't receive a fine then you start redeeming your points.

Admission of guilt
Curran also pointed out that a driver could have a 50% reduction of the fine upon admission of guilt and payment within 32 days under the Aarto Bill. Motor vehicle owners who weren't driving their vehicle at the time will also have the chance to nominate the driver who was responsible for the fine, and if you aren't able to pay your fine in one lump sum, you can ask to pay your fine in two instalments.

Finally, Curran stated that there is hope among traffic officials that the Aarto Bill will positively affect driver behaviour. "We all hope that the Aarto legislation will improve road user behaviour as well as increasing payment of traffic infringements," he said. "We believe it will contribute to road safety, with a reduction in fatalities and crashes as it will place more effective responsibility on motor car drivers."

'We bring you the latest Garden Route news'