AARTO Fleet Solutions

The AARTO Chronicle

by Dennis Jackson

A traffic system which could result in the cancellation of licences for driving offences is due to be rolled out nationwide on April 1st, but an assessment report of the two pilot projects (Johannesburg and Tshwane), highlights the nightmare it will become for drivers and fleet owners.

AARTO (The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act, 1998) has been in existence for the past fourteen years. Certain inconsistencies have been identified by the Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA). Accordingly, a comprehensive review of the Act is underway that will necessitate an amendment to the Act to ensure a more coherent regulatory framework and adjudication process. The replacement AARTO Regulations 2012 have been completed and will soon be published in the Government Gazette.

The system is currently being piloted in Johannesburg, and the Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) have been issuing infringement notices via ordinary post, which violates the AARTO Act, since the Act states that all infringement notices must be delivered via registered mail.

Millions will be lost in traffic fine revenue because of this technicality. The Road Traffic Infringement Agency previously confirmed that infringement notices delivered via normal post will be voided. Of even greater concern is that such incidents of corruption are unlikely to be exposed in the future should the controversial Protection of State Information Bill be passed in its current form.

The City of Cape Town has also filed an application in the Western Cape High Court where it argued that there was little or no information from the National Department (RTMC) to help the city prepare for the roll-out. The matter is still pending.

The system is based on motorists being notified by mail of alleged offences. The eNaTiS system is the register for all vehicles, driving licences, contraventions and accident data. Alarmingly, sixty percent of the addresses of motorists stored on the Electronic National Administration Traffic Information System (eNaTiS), are incorrect!

The driver demerit system has led to several problems, particularly in terms of the training of traffic police on the implementation of the system. The system also poses problems for fleet operators as driver employers will have to spend millions annually to monitor the status of driver employee’s demerit points. In addition, this could have adverse repercussions for a company's Proxy.

A form is required to get the driver's consent for the company to access their information. The cost of accessing a drivers’ point status is R60-00 for each application!

AARTO Executive Manager Basil Nkhwashu explained that out of all the database possibilities that companies could use to determine the status of drivers' licences, eNatis will be the only permissible database, and that the RTMC could possibly organise for companies to have access to it. However, this is currently not available. This means that drivers could be incurring demerit points without being aware of it.

According to the Act, companies will be fined R1 500 for each driver that drives with a suspended licence plus an additional R1 250 if a professional driving permit is required.

Companies employing numerous drivers will have to spend millions monitoring the status of their drivers’ points. Estimates are that there could be as many as 200,000 South Africans presently employed as drivers. Loss of a licence by a driver could have labour law implications.

The impracticality of being unable to determine whether a driver has a valid licence may force many fleet operators to take a risk to keep their fleets functioning. Gavin Kelly, technical and operations manager at the Road Freight Association (RFA) says, "There is a huge question around how a company will fairly meet the requirements of legislation if they have no means of getting access to information. Implementing the Act will place a huge administrative burden on companies to monitor the status of drivers' licences."

Currently, companies would only know that drivers have lost points when an infringement notice arrives in the post. This could happen up to 40 days after the offence. Kelly said notices must either be handed to the driver in person, or sent through registered mail.

Fleet and transport companies wishing to check on the status of their drivers' licences face an administrative nightmare as the only way to check is to fill in a form and fax or post it to the official

AARTO agency. This is impracticable as it could take 30 days for a response. However, if a company allows unlicensed drivers to drive, they would have to prove they were unaware of the fact.

Fleet Management is an exceptionally specialised function. However there is a very effective and inexpensive solution is available in the form of a versatile web-based fleet administration system to manage fleet operations on an extremely cost effective basis. This proven system can save an inordinate amount of unnecessary expenditure for the fleet owner or operator.

Further information can be obtained from info@aartofleet.co.za