Johannesburg - Is the long-awaited points system finally going to materialise?
The Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) was launched in Johannesburg on Thursday to implement the long delayed Administrative Adjudication of Traffic Offences Act (AARTO) and the demerit points system.
The implementation of AARTO has been marred by numerous delays over the past few years as municipalities across the country experienced difficulties with implementing the system.
“The days of non-compliance to road traffic laws without consequences are truly over,” said Deputy Minister of Transport, Sindisiwe Chikunga. The AARTO, she said, would be launched on April 1 next year.
The RTIA was launched to manage the rolling out of AARTO and the implementation of the driver demerit points system.
Chief Executive Officer of the RTIA, Japh Chuwe said that the new agency was not to be confused with the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC). “We are independent of the RTMC,” he stressed.
Speaking to journalists from the RTIA Midrand offices, Chuwe said: “We operate these premises with our own board.”
SINGLE SYSTEM
Chuwe shared that interventions and methods had been brought in to standardise and manage AARTO this time around. “We now have a single unitary system across the country,” he said. “All records of a vehicle and the people associated with it are available on that one system, anywhere in the country.”
The demerit points system, he said, would penalise drivers who are guilty of infringements by imposing demerit points. An accumulation of demerit points would lead to suspension and an eventual cancellation of a driver’s licence.
Chikunga said that instrumental to rolling out and implementing an effective AARTO was the need for properly trained traffic officials who were knowledgeable about the system.
STAMPING OUT CORRUPTION
“The current duration of training of officers, which is six months, needs to be prolonged to ensure properly trained officers,” said
Chikunga. “We are doing everything possible to stamp out corruption, and are working with crime intelligence to root out corrupt
activities… we will remove the corrupt officers, and even blacklist them,” she said.
Over 500 000 driver’s licences were issued in 2014, she said. Highlighting the seriousness of keeping the country’s roads safe for
drivers and pedestrians, she said: “We hope those people did not buy the licences. At least 14 000 people die on our roads every year, and at least 40 people a day…we cannot let this terrible situation continue in our country.”