These are our concerns about the AARTO law as amended by the AARTO Amendment Act:

• AARTO has less to do with road safety and more to do with money making.

• OUTA believes that by introducing a national system of traffic regulation, government is acting contrary to the constitution, as these competencies should solely vest with the provincial and municipal legislators.

• This amendment will deprive struggling municipalities with much needed revenue – AARTO is national legislation and will trump any form of local ordinances and by-laws, thus municipalities will not be able collect monies for themselves, but such monies will be collected for purposes of a national fiscus.

• There is a significant conflict between local ordinances and by-laws and the provisions of the AARTO amendment, as both sets of legislation aim to prosecute the same (or similar) traffic offenses.

• It infringes on the constitutional rights of drivers and owners of vehicles in that fines posted or electronically emailed are deemed delivered.

• 50% of the fines and the admin fees go to the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA), meaning local municipalities will lose 50% of the income generated from fines.

• A road user may not in terms of the new amendment approach a court directly, to challenge a traffic infringement. Instead, the infringer is burdened with a complicated administrative process to be followed before court is even considered as an option.

• The Tribunal that motorists countrywide can appeal to will consist of just nine people. We foresee a major backlog in dealing with infringements.

• We foresee an increase in bribery and corruption to avoid demerit points.

• The act could be used to force Gauteng motorists into paying e-tolls.

• The AARTO pilot project which ran in Johannesburg and Tshwane for 10 years failed to improve road safety or decrease the number of road fatalities.

For more on OUTA's objections to the AARTO Amendment, see:

• OUTA letters to President Ramaphosa on 25 March 2019 and on 24 July 2019.

• OUTA statement in April 2018 here.

• OUTA statement in November 2017 here.

• OUTA oral submission to Parliament on 13 February 2018 here.

The controversial amendment to AARTO (the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offenses Act, 1998), has been passed but its shortcomings have not been addressed. The AARTO Amendment Bill was passed by Parliament in September 2017 and signed by the President in August 2019, but it is not yet in effect as a date for this has not been gazetted. The Minister of Transport said it would be implemented in June 2020, but this was delayed and a new date of June 2021 was punted; however, no date has been gazetted yet. 

OUTA is up for the challenge of opposing the shortcomings of this law – a constitutional challenge.

In July 2020, OUTA filed a court application calling for the AARTO Act and the AARTO Amendment Act to be declared unconstitutional. The application was issued in the Pretoria High Court and is against the Minister of Transport, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) and the RTIA's Appeals Tribunal. By mid-September 2020, the Minister of Transport and the RTIA had filled notices to oppose the application; their papers are awaited.

While OUTA believes that measures to improve road safety and reduce fatalities are urgently needed, we believe that the AARTO Amendment Act will not achieve this. AARTO was rolled out in Gauteng 10 years ago and failed spectacularly. Statistics do not support the claim that it will lead to a reduction in fatalities on roads.

The application calls for the court to declare both the main act and the amendment unconstitutional. This is because this legislation unlawfully intrudes upon the exclusive executive and legislative competence of the local and provincial governments envisaged in the Constitution. If the court finds that the law is not inconsistent with the Constitution, then OUTA further opposes Section 17 of the Amendment Act. This removes the requirement that service of notices and related documents must be done personally or by registered mail, instead allowing the uses of email, SMS or voice message.

The court papers

The OUTA notice of motion and founding affidavit outlining the case are here. OUTA's heads of argument are here.

The state is opposing the application.

The case is set down in the Pretoria High Court for 18 and 19 October 2021.

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