President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act 4 of 2019 (AARTO Act) into law on 13 August 2019. Several objections were lodged against the AARTO Act during the Bill comment process, but it was still signed into law. The commencement date has not been announced, but the public is advised to prepare for implementation.
While the AARTO Act involves a points-demerit system, this concept is only a small part of the AARTO Act’s mechanisms and ultimate purpose.
The main intention of the AARTO Act is to migrate the prosecution of road traffic offences for which an admission of guilt fine may be paid from the Criminal Procedure Act and the judicial authority of the courts, to an administrative, process driven scheme. The process will be managed by a State-Owned Enterprise, which is funded entirely by traffic fines and the fees raised on them.
The AARTO Act has also brought with it the concept of an alleged infringer being guilty until they prove themselves innocent. This means that there is an assumption that a certain person was driving the car at the time of the infringement and that assumption will be used except if that person provides confirmation that it was indeed someone else.
Administrative scheme
An administrative scheme requires the motorist to act or react when he/she is accused of committing an infringement. If you fail to act, the fine process will proceed by recording or diverting the penalty, removing the discount offered and/or allocating the demerit points.
Ignoring a traffic fine will have serious consequences as demerit points will be allocated and lead to the suspension of licenses, while vehicle licensing transactions may be blocked if you fail to respond on receiving notices.
Understanding company responsibilities under AARTO
There is no proxy system when it comes to the demerit system, companies are responsible for their company fleet, and need to ensure a system is in place for company drivers to comply with the AARTO Act.
Inevitably this would have an impact on companies that rely on employees employed as drivers and who make use of company vehicles as part of their job duties.
What may have to change to comply with AARTO Act?
In terms of disciplinary processes, employers who make use of drivers should ensure that there are specific rules applicable to such employees insofar as the driving of company vehicles is concerned. The employer can provide, for example, that is a disciplinary offence to incur a traffic fine (or demerit points) whilst driving a company vehicle.
The next policy that should be enhanced at the company vehicle- or fleet policy and/or any other standard operating procedures (SOPs) that regulate the use of company-owned or rented vehicles including vehicles used as a pool vehicle or vehicles driven by employees.
An employer should amend its contracts of employment and establish procedures to monitor driver infringements and to manage risk of “incapacitation” due to the new arrangements. Larger employers may have to designate a specific employee to monitor AARTO compliance and to introduce contingency measures whenever a driver’s license is suspended.
Employers are best advised to pre-empt the changes and to implement the suggested arrangements to prevent crisis situations.